Neighbourhood improvement programs
Holiday Housecheck Program
Holiday Housecheck is a free student-run service run by the Alma Mater Society that operates during the Winter and Summer breaks. [9] Participants have their mail collected and regular exterior inspections conducted on their homes while they are out of Kingston. Staff ensure doors are closed and locked, windows are closed and intact, snow is stomped down, and examine the premise for signs of break-in. The program typically reaches its capacity of 200 homes each year. [9]
Landlord Contract Program
This is a voluntary program run by Queen's University dept. of Community Housing for landlords who have had their units inspected by an independent third party for compliance with the City of Kingston's property standards by-law. [10] As of December 1, 2022, Queen's Community Housing has announced that it is winding down the Landlord Contract Program (LCP), and will no longer be accepting new properties. [11]
In return for successfully passing the property standards inspection and complying with several rules regarding limited rent increases and only renting to verified Queen's University students, units in the LCP were extended an exemption under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006. The exemption permits a Tenancy Termination Agreement (N11)to be signed at the time that the lease is signed.
Student Maintenance and Resource Team (SMART)
SMART (Student Maintenance & Resource Team) provides property maintenance and community clean-up services to students, landlords, and other members of the Kingston community living in and around the University District. SMART focuses on lawn care and garbage removal for their contracted clients throughout the summer months. As students begin to arrive in the fall, SMART expands its role in ensuring that the University District is clean and safe. They host regular community-wide clean ups, paying particular attention to the busy times of the year, such as Orientation Week, Homecoming, Halloween, and St. Patrick's Day. [12] SMART, and the Alma Mater Society service, is entirely student-run.
Housing Resource Centre (HRC)
The Housing Resource Centre, also run by the Alma Mater Society, offers support for students who are experiencing a conflict with a landlord or housemate in a safe and confidential space. Trained student volunteers can also answer questions and provide information on property standards, leases, tenant rights, house hunting, home security, and more.
Social events
Throughout its history, the area has had a reputation of being loud and active, especially on weekend nights and during the annual Homecoming celebrations. Over the years, this created a significant amount of tension between students and non-student residents. Today, strong partnerships exist between City staff, City councillors, the Alma Mater Society, the Kingston Police Force, and Queen's University, which have largely curtailed these issues. Starting in 2017, tensions have increased as students are targeted by laws designed to suppress social activities.
Specifically, the ReUnion Street Festival has been quite successful in ensuring students enjoy homecoming in an enjoyable and responsible matter. The festivale can be described as a collection of programmed events that serve as the capstone for Queen's Homecoming. Its mission is to provide a regulated forum for students and alumni to unitedly celebrate their Queen's pride. The festival takes place on the Saturday night of every homecoming, and offers a solution to the previous lack of programming during this time period. It predominantly takes place on Union Street, between University Avenue and Division Street, with a separate designated and confined area for patrons of legal age to consume alcohol. Since its inception in 2014, the festival has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from alumni and students who attended the event, local police, Queen's University, city staff, and city councillors. [14]
Queen Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east–west avenues of Toronto's and York County's grid pattern of major roads. The western section of Queen is a centre for Canadian broadcasting, music, fashion, performance, and the visual arts. Over the past twenty-five years, Queen West has become an international arts centre and a tourist attraction in Toronto.
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Govanhill is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, situated south of the River Clyde between Pollokshields, the Gorbals, Strathbungo, Crosshill, Polmadie and Queen's Park. Historically part of Renfrewshire, Govanhill had the status of a police burgh between 1877 and 1891 before becoming part of the City of Glasgow. Since 2007, it has fallen under the Southside Central ward of Glasgow City Council. A previous smaller ward named Govanhill had boundaries of Dixon Avenue and Dixon Road to the south, Victoria Road to the west, Butterbiggins Road to the north and Aikenhead Road to the east.
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Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than 1,400 hectares of land throughout Ontario and owns Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England. Queen's is organized into eight faculties and schools.
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Howard County Housing is the umbrella organization for the Howard County Department of Housing and Community Development and the Howard County Housing Commission. The Department is Howard County Government’s housing agency, and the Commission is a public housing authority and non-profit. Both have boards that meet monthly.
