The multifamily industry has made some meaningful progress when it comes to practicing corporate social responsibility (CSR). But there are still many areas for improvement.

That was the consensus of a session examining the state of CSR in the apartment industry at the recent Apartment Internet Marketing (AIM) Conference in Huntington Beach, Calif.

The session began with a look at what CSR really is. To be sure, practicing genuine CSR means much more than a company making periodic donations to local charities, although such donations are certainly laudable.

Instead, an apartment company engages in true CSR when it has in place an ongoing, all-encompassing effort to care for, connect with and positively impact employees, residents and surrounding neighborhoods. The result of such a program should be more engaged workers, happier residents and increased profitability.

A number of studies have demonstrated the importance of having a strong CSR program in place. According to the 2015 Cone Communications Millennial CSR Study, 91 percent of millennials would switch brands to one that is associated with a good cause, given similar price and quality. Additionally, 63 percent of millennial women and 45 percent of millennial men say their decisions about job offers are impacted by the employer's CSR work, according to the Six-Month Research Update to the 2014 Millennial Impact Report, a study conducted by Achieve.

So where are multifamily companies currently succeeding when it comes to CSR? "In terms of providing opportunities for career advancement, professional growth and time off we’re doing a pretty great job as an industry," said Kelly Vickers, vice president of CSR for Alliance Residential.

Citing numbers from ManagInc's 2017 Multifamily CSR Benchmark Study, Vickers noted that more than 91 percent of apartment companies increase employees' paid time off based on the length of their tenure while more than 90 percent pay for employees' certification, education and licensing efforts. Moreover, roughly 92 percent of multifamily operators have an in-house educational staff and/or an outsourced education program.

On the flip side, "less than 13 percent of [apartment] companies are assisting their employees in paying back some of their student loan debt," Vickers noted. "This is a highly attractive benefit that our growing millennial work force wants, and we’re just not providing it."

Paid paternity leave, service guarantees for residents and corporate matching of employees' charitable donations are other initiatives that are relatively uncommon in the apartment industry, according to ManagInc's study.

Expanding its work with the homeless is another avenue through which the multifamily industry can expand its CSR efforts, I explained during the panel.

Thirteen apartment management companies – including such industry heavyweights as AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential – currently work with Shelters to Shutters to place people experiencing homelessness in onsite, entry-level jobs and provide them with housing at the same communities at which they work.

In all, these apartment companies have moved more than 100 people out of homelessness in markets throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, South and Texas. This effort focuses on the 70 percent of homeless people who are situationally homeless due to a life-altering event such as job loss, medical or health emergency, divorce, domestic abuse or the loss of a primary income earner.

The situationally homeless have marketable skills, are ready and in fact eager to work, and they just need a hand up. Regardless of whatever specific efforts they pursue, the multifamily industry can make a powerful impact by extending that helping hand.