The Importance of Community Building in the Alternative Residential Sector

In the Alternative Residential sector, community isn’t just a residential perk; it’s a strategy that can help deliver long-term success.

Whether it’s Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), Build-to-Rent (BtR) or Senior Living, connection and culture should be prioritised as part of the core business model.

Community building directly supports resident retention, brand differentiation, operational efficiency, as well as enhancing asset value. When done well, it can create loyal residents and happier teams.

Each segment of the Alt-Resi landscape brings its own set of lifestyle expectations. To meet these expectations, you need to tailor community strategies that you embed into your operations from day one.

This post unpacks the value of community and explores how building the right team is essential when it comes to sustaining it. From frontline staff to senior leadership, it’s people who shape culture and make residents feel at home.

At Macdonald & Company, we specialise in helping Alternative Residential operators find the talent to make this happen. We understand the sector’s unique hiring needs and work with clients to build culture-led teams that deliver on experience and performance.

The Role of Community Building in the Alternative Residential Sector

In today’s Alternative Residential landscape, community building is a strategic necessity.

Operators across Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), Build-to-Rent (BtR), and Senior Living are recognising that community is about creating an environment where residents feel connected.

In PBSA or BtR accommodation, “community”  extends beyond just the residents. It means successfully encouraging connection not only among the residents, but also with the in-house team, the residents’ friends and family, the wider neighbourhood, and local businesses.

Making Alt-Resi accommodation an integral part of the local neighbourhood has become key to business success. Community building shapes how tenants interact, how they talk about their experience, and whether they choose to stay.

Why is Community Building Important in this Sector?

Over recent years, community building has become more important than ever. During the Covid 19 Pandemic, lockdowns and restrictions saw many people isolated, highlighting just how vital human connection and a sense of belonging are to our wellbeing.

When community is prioritised, we see benefits for both the residents and the businesses. Residents who feel a sense of connection are more likely to stay longer and speak positively about your brand.

Emotional connection has real commercial weight, it can improve resident satisfaction and help your brand stand out. On the flip side, when community is neglected, residents become disengaged, complaints can rise, and the stress on staff increases.

Strong community building delivers:

• Resident Retention and Loyalty
  When residents feel part of a connected, purposeful community, they stay longer, engage more, and become brand advocates.
• Brand Differentiation in a Competitive Market
  Community-led experiences help operators stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
• Operational Benefits and Team Morale
  A strong sense of community encourages respectful use of shared spaces, proactive communication, and a more positive relationship between staff and residents. This leads to better issue resolution and improved team performance.
• Impact on Asset Value and Commercial Performance
  Positive resident sentiment boosts occupancy, reduces churn, and enhances your reputation.

Aligning Your Teams with Resident Expectations

Each Alternative Residential sector, from PBSA to Senior Living, has differing resident expectations and benefits from focusing on different aspects of community building.

Whether it’s students looking for connection and support, or short-stay guests seeking efficiency and consistency, your in-house teams must be aligned with the specific cultural expectations of the Alt-Resi sector they work in. That means hiring and training teams who can deliver the right experience for the right audience.

Here’s how resident expectations vary across the sector, and what that means for the teams delivering community on the ground.

Building a Team That Reflects Your Brand: Best Practices

“Community” isn’t just a term you can throw into your website copy to make your accommodation sound welcoming. It’s a tangible thing that must be delivered everyday by your team.

Community building must be front and centre when it comes to hiring in the Alternative Residential sector. That means looking beyond CVs and job titles to find individuals who align with your cultural goals.

Culture-first hiring doesn’t just improve the resident experience, it also reduces staff turnover, strengthens team morale, and creates a more consistent brand presence across every touchpoint.

Leadership Roles: Culture from the Top

Operational leaders set the tone for any Alt-Resi team, from how they hire and train, to the systems they implement and the behaviours they model.

When leadership prioritises community, that mindset will follow into the rest of the organisation, influencing how teams interact, how problems are solved, and how residents feel day to day.

The property market is fast moving, and leaders, whether that’s COOs, HR Directors or General Managers, must be ambitious and excited by growth. Whilst their focus will often be on strategy, they must maintain a resident first approach, keeping culture-building in mind and not just systems and processes.

There’s plenty of opportunity in this sector, and leaders will have to go above and beyond when it comes to getting to know the culture and personalities of each community and team in order to get the best out of them and help them grow.

Tech fluency is a vital skill in this role, and leadership staff must be confident using platforms like Yardi or resident engagement tools to support both team efficiency and resident experience.

Ultimately, leaders create alignment. In smaller teams, even one strong operations leader can shape the culture across an entire portfolio. They’re responsible for hiring people who reflect your vision and making sure that the brand experience is consistent across every site.

When culture is embedded from the top down, community building becomes second nature.

Frontline Roles: Where Culture Is Delivered Daily

Frontline roles, including front desk teams, concierge, and facilities and maintenance staff, are the people that your residents interact with most. They are the faces that are associated with your brand, day in and day out. Whether it’s a maintenance request or a welcome tour, these moments shape the residents’ experience.

Warm, engaging personalities are key in frontline roles, where a friendly greeting or calm tone during a stressful moment can completely shift a resident’s perception.

Staff in these positions must be proactive when it comes to solving problems, considering no task too big or too small to take on. They should also be able to read situations quickly and respond with empathy, especially in high-pressure or sensitive environments.

With a diverse range of occupant profiles in the Alt-Resi landscape, great frontline teams should be able to connect with a wide range of residents, whether that’s students and young professionals, or retirees and overseas guests.

A resident’s experience often hinges on a single interaction. Whether it’s a quick fix, a warm welcome, or an empathetic ear, frontline staff are the bridge between emotional connection and operational performance.

In sectors like PBSA and Senior Living especially, emotional safety is just as important as physical security, and it’s your frontline teams who provide that daily reassurance.

Leveraging Events and Networking to Strengthen Community

Events are a powerful tool that can help Alternative Residential brands build and strengthen community. Events are an opportunity to showcase your brand’s culture and help encourage meaningful engagement.

It could be anything from a live Q&A with your ops team, a wellness workshop, or an informal networking hour. All of these moments offer staff and residents the chance to connect, learn, and contribute.

How to make events work for your community:

• Host Q&As, workshops, or live summits: Bring in experts to share insights on topics like local services, sustainability, or sector trends.
• Run virtual or in-person networking hours: Help residents get to know each other and build micro-communities across sites.
• Facilitate collaboration and support: Create opportunities for partnerships between residents, staff, or local businesses that encourage shared ownership and belonging.
• Encourage active participation: Use video comments, live chat, discussion forums, or post-event surveys to spark conversation and gather feedback.

When events are done right, they strengthen the connection between residents, staff, and your brand, and they turn passive tenants into active community members. This isn’t just about socialising; it’s about embedding your values and giving people space to belong.

Scaling and Growing Community Across Sites

As Alternative Residential Operators expand their portfolios, their community building needs to grow with them. But scaling a community is a delicate balance, one that requires local experience to be combined with central strategy. Scalable doesn’t mean one-size-fits-all.

Achieving growth whilst maintaining the unique character and resident experience of each location, requires the right balance of people, processes, and technology. The use of scalable digital platforms like apps, forums, and portals help to connect residents and deliver consistent engagement across all locations, without losing the personal touch.

Making sure that staff understand the brand community inside out and embody its values is also equally important. Consistency across tone and experience is essential, regardless of the size of your organisation.

To scale effectively without losing your sense of community and culture, you need to ensure that residents stay engaged. You should leverage staff as community ambassadors to champion your brand and generate organic momentum across news sites, and collect and act on feedback from residents to evolve offerings in line with their needs.

When hiring for multi-site roles such as General Managers, Operations Managers, or People Managers, prioritise experience with scalable operations and cultural alignment. Embedding community values into onboarding, training, and leadership behaviours helps maintain consistency as you grow.

How Macdonald & Company Can Help

At Macdonald & Company, we specialise in finding culturally aligned HR and operational talent for the Alternative Residential sector.

According to our latest research, 56% of senior leaders and hiring managers in the alternative-residential sector are looking to grow their team this year. From Build-to-Rent to PBSA, Senior Living to short-term rentals, we understand the specific hiring challenges of this sector and the importance of finding the right cultural fit to help maximise community building.

The Importance of Community Building in the Alternative Residential Sector

In Alternative Residential, the strength of your community directly impacts resident retention, brand loyalty, and long-term operational success.

Getting this right means investing in the right people. From Heads of HR to on-the-ground ops teams, every hire contributes to the culture your residents experience day-to-day. For developers, operators, and investors, that means putting culture at the centre of your recruitment strategy, not as an afterthought, but as a central differentiator.

Ready to hire people who will shape your culture and strengthen your brand? Get in touch with Macdonald and Company, and we can connect you with talent who share your values and can deliver lasting results.