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Managing Your Business
Housing co-operatives are small businesses formed to provide housing for their members. They prosper best when they are fully occupied and members pay their housing charges in full and on time.
A housing co-op is not a complex business, but it takes work to keep it going. As the steward of your
Fill Your Units
You can never get back the money you lose when a unit stands empty. Whenever a member gives notice, it’s important to get the word out, which is usually the responsibility of the manager. As soon as a prospect gets in touch, your co-op needs to follow up promptly. Otherwise, they will go elsewhere.
Get Paid
Your co-operative is in the housing business, not the lending business. It has bills to pay and a building to keep up. You should keep this in mind when members don’t pay on time.
If a household doesn’t pay what it owes and moves out, the co-operative is left with a bad debt, which will have to be
Budget Well
To avoid running out of money, your co-op needs to adopt a well thought-out operating budget every year. Without one, you could find yourself facing a deficit, paying your bills late, cutting back on repairs to units and unable to update and replace worn-out building elements.
Begin the process by
Protect Your Assets
Your co-op has three main assets, although only one appears on the audited financial statements.
Your money and buildings
Protect your co-op‘s property by buying the right insurance in the right amounts. All housing co-ops need five kinds of insurance: property, loss of housing charges, public
Borrow Money
As you come to the end of your mortgage, or earlier, your housing co-operative may need to borrow new money. The property may need more work than the capital replacement reserve can fund. Or you may have been looking forward to updating the older elements of your buildings and units. Some co-ops
Plan for the Future
Good planning is the secret behind a building that doesn’t look its age. Without a plan, your co-op can’t know how much you’ll need to save for major repairs. Until you know this, you don’t know what your housing charges should be.
Your plan begins with a recent building condition assessment that
Province of BC Provides $2 Million to Assist Low-Income Co-op Households
Up to 300 low-income co-op households will benefit from the BC government’s $2 million in assistance to make their homes more affordable. This funding will bridge the shortfall resulting from expired federal operating agreements.
The provincial funding is intended to support co-ops whose federal
Government of Canada Announces First Ever National Housing Strategy
The federal government has unveiled their National Housing Strategy. This document will set forth the next generation of social housing policy for Canada and builds on the investments that were contained in the 2017 federal budget. Specifically, the strategy announced detailed plans to protect long
Tip of the Month
Capital Plans and Contributions
Comparing 2007 and 2020, we saw the median annual contributions per unit almost triple ($1,026 per unit to $3,052).