As we approach Earth Day, we’d like to take a look at our sustainability initiatives and social responsibility commitments, and the progress we’ve made as company so far. Guided by our values of Unshakeable Integrity, Genuine Care, Continuous Excellence, and Standout Citizenship, we’ve woven environmental, social, and governance initiatives into our operations in each market as well as into each associate’s experience.
Our mission statement, “Together with you, we make a house a home,” reflects our efforts to create an exceptional leasing experience for residents, a workplace where associates can thrive, and ESG practices that contribute to a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world. By aligning ESG principles with our strategic business objectives, we’re able to meet evolving sustainability and social responsibility standards while providing high-quality homes in our key markets. Our recently published progress overview, Bringing Sustainability Home: An Invitation to Engage , provides a look at our efforts.
Our Integrated Approach to ESG
We employ an integrated approach to ensure there’s a consistent focus on ESG at Invitation Homes. Our executive leadership and board of directors determine strategy and policies that ensure ESG is embedded in our work. Our in-house ESG professionals and ESG Task Force, made up of associates from a variety of internal departments, determine initiatives and then measure and report on large-scale activities and outcomes. Through this structure, we’re able to create and implement ESG initiatives alongside core business objectives across our 16 markets and more than 80,000 single-family homes.
How We Address Our Environmental Impact
With an estimated 40% of global emissions coming from the built environment, Invitation Homes realizes the change we can help make by reducing the environmental impact of our footprint, especially to address the 27% of emissions that come from the operations of existing buildings, such as homes. That’s why we continue to advance a diverse portfolio of energy-efficient and climate-friendly service offerings and technologies. This includes providing energy-efficient ENERGY STAR® certified appliances and using durable and energy-efficient materials when feasible, installing low-flow plumbing fixtures, and employing water-saving landscape designs in arid locations. It also means that when we replace HVAC units, we choose more efficient models when possible. We’re also proud to invest in and support ventures like the Fifth Wall Climate Technology Fund, which supports companies creating climate-friendly technologies for real estate. And in most of our properties we offer smart home technology and tips to residents to encourage them to reduce their energy consumption and lower their monthly costs.
While these steps may seem small, our hope is that widespread adoption across our operations, and eventually the industry, will lead to a more impactful change. We’re proud to participate in the GRESB Real Estate Assessment which provides an independent, third-party evaluation of our ESG performance. In 2022, for the second year in a row, we achieved a 13.3% improvement in our sustainability score with GRESB.
Taking an Active Role in Social Responsibility
When it comes to social responsibility, we believe efforts start internally at the top—by providing a work environment that attracts, develops, and retains industry-leading talent. Our engagement with residents, community members, vendors, and others helps build strong connections that benefit our business. For our residents, we provide a worry-free leasing lifestyle throughout their time with us, from the in-person home orientation at move-in to the last survey we share to make future resident experiences even better. We’ve been successful at driving consistently high resident satisfaction thanks to our culture of Genuine Care and championing consistent and transparent communication with residents. To improve our communities, we invest in upfront renovations for our homes and maintain them at high standards through timely maintenance service. These investments create jobs, enhance neighborhood desirability, and improve the quality of life for our residents and their neighbors. We also actively engage with community leaders and non-profit organizations, all with an eye toward improving local services and neighborhoods.
Underpinning this overall commitment to an elevated resident experience is our associates. To promote innovative, engaged, and happy teams, we believe it’s critical to celebrate and cultivate a culture that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). We’re exceedingly proud of our workforce and the DE&I steps we’ve taken so far, with women and people of color making up nearly half of our team. We also see these trends continuing across our new hires and we’ve taken steps to ensure all employees have the resources and support they need once onboard.
A Trusted Partner
We’re committed to operating honestly to best serve residents, investors, associates, and other stakeholders. As society progresses and evolves, so will Invitation Homes to ensure that we can continue to provide high-quality, affordable homes across the country to a growing number of residents. Our high levels of satisfaction speak to the steps we’ve taken to establish Invitation Homes as a leader in the industry, and we’re proud of the work we’ve done in the ESG space and are excited to find new ways to evolve this strategy. By incorporating ESG into key aspects of our business, we’re investing in the long-term success of our company while supporting a more sustainable lifestyle.
Up Next
LOADING