Our Work

Tenant Engagement

A commitment to amplifying Tenant voices has always been central to Circle’s vision, and is an important part of our history. You can learn more about the Tenant-led campaign to save the Scattered Homes on our page The Circle Story. When the organization was founded, a Tenant Engagement Department was created to ensure that resources were dedicated towards giving Tenants an expanded voice, and creating opportunities for them to contribute and participate. We’re still growing our engagement activities, but are happy to share some of what we’ve done so far.

Tenant Advisory Group (TAG)

Tenant Advisory Group members and Circle Staff in a meeting.

Circle started the TAG to create a space where Tenants could ask questions, and share their concerns and ideas with Circle staff and Board members. The TAG – which is currently open to all Circle Tenants – has been meeting 2-3 times per year, to make sure that management knows what’s most important to Tenants, and what they’d like to see from Circle as we develop programming, policies, and more. These meetings provide a unique opportunity to connect in a small group – so that Tenants can get to know staff, and each other. Recognizing that our homes are spread out across the city, TAG meetings follow a hybrid format. If you are a Circle Tenant and are interested in joining, visit our TAG page to learn more.

Policy Consultation
In February 2024, Circle hosted our first Policy Consultation Session with Tenants. At the session, we got Tenant feedback on our Rent-Geared-To-Income Administration Manual, and discussed the impacts that different aspects of it have on RGI Tenants. As a result of the consultation, Circle management made a number of changes to the Manual, to reflect what we heard in the session. The full RGI Manual can be viewed on our Policies page.

Strategic Planning

A group of people watches a facilitator at the front, who is pointing at a large piece of paper with notes on it.

Circle is gearing up to create our first strategic plan in fall/winter 2024. As part of our preparation for that, Circle hosted a session with one of our key stakeholder groups: Tenants! Our facilitator Suzanne Gibson led a group of Tenants through a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunties-Threats (SWOT) exercise in November 2023 at the Circle office. The many important takeaways from the Tenant SWOT will inform the strategic plan when the Circle Board and management convene to put it together.

Scatter Notes Newsletter
Twice a year, we send out our Tenant Newsletter Scatter Notes. The colourful print newsletter is mailed to all Tenant households, and includes important updates, suggested resources, invitations to events, and Tenant Spotlight articles to feature stories from our community. The full Scatter Notes archive is available here.

Local Events

A group of people play the game "cornhole" with beanbags in a public park.

We’ve heard from some Tenants that they’d like more opportunities to meet each other, and enjoy their neighbourhoods together. So, in summer 2023 we hosted our first social event for Tenants. For Pizza in the Park with Circle, Tenants and staff met in Fairmount Park (Coxwell & Gerrard) to enjoy some fresh pizza baked in the park’s own wood-burning oven! At the event, Circle gave out packs of pollinator-friendly seeds that were put together for us by Indigenous-led landscape educators Alter Eden. We love thinking about the beautiful flowers that will be growing in Tenant gardens from these seeds. We’ve got two events planned for summer 2024 – one at Fairmount, and one in Scarborough at Neilson Park. Keep an eye on our What’s New page for details!