Directive 2017-03 - Housing Provider Plans

Issue Date: September 26, 2017

Directive No.: DIR2017-03

Type: Legislative/Operational

The policies and procedures in this Directive are to be implemented by Housing Providers/Cooperatives funded by the Municipality under the following programs:

Provincial Non-Profit Housing Providers

Gananoque Family Housing
Gananoque Housing Inc.
Legion Village 96 Seniors Residence
Twp. of Bastard & South Burgess Housing Corp.
Brockville Municipal Non-Profit Housing Corp.
South Crosby Non-Profit Housing Corp. - Pineview

Federal/Provincial Cooperative Housing

Shepherds Green Cooperative Homes Inc.

Background

The Housing Services Act, 2011 Schedule 1 s. 69 (5) requires a housing provider to prepare and follow plans related to the governance and operation of the housing project as prescribed by the regulations. Ontario Regulation 367/11 s. 87 requires that prescribed plans must be prepared and followed by the housing provider.

Purpose

This directive communicates the requirements for housing providers to develop the plans required by O. Reg. 367/11 and suggests resources to aid the provider in creating these plans.

Action To Be Taken

Each housing provider shall develop and implement the following plans within one year of this directive release. These plans shall be subject to review by the service manager.

1. A training plan for all staff and any volunteers that are involved in the operation of the housing project.

2 A succession plan for officers and directors of the Board of Directors.

3. Additionally, each non-profit co-operative shall develop and implement a plan to educate members about the co-operative’s governance.

Non-profit providers may wish to consider the following resources to assist in the development and implementation of required plans:

Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) https://www.onpha.on.ca
Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) https://chfcanada.coop

These sites provide excellent resources including on-line training opportunities, educational days and conferences and a variety of interesting and informational topics and manuals for non-profit and co-operative housing providers respectively.

Plans must be documented in writing and are not required to be complex. Training requirements will vary depending on the roles of the person(s) to be trained.

For example, a training plan for a newly hired Administrator/Property Manager might include and not be limited to the following:

a period of cross-training with the previous Administrator/Property Manager if appropriate and available;
participating in on-line training through ONPHA and/or CHF Canada;
attending ONPHA/CHF Canada conferences and/or education days.

For new Board members, training plans might include a review of governance as a standing agenda item and/or that the member(s) must review the governance manual (available from ONPHA). All board members must have a thorough understanding of their responsibilities as the governing Board.

Succession plans for Board members may already be included in a non-profit/co-operative by-law outlining terms of directors and how new board members will be recruited. If these details already exist in a by-law, the succession plan may simply refer to the By-law.

Co-operatives must have a plan to educate new members. This requirement may already be met by an existing By-law.