Your Board needs to develop policy statements to guide the organization in each area of responsibility, including resident relations, hiring staff, volunteer and staff development, financial management, maintenance, ethics, recruitment, conflict of interest, government relations, community and public relations, and harassment. Policies are essential because they:

State the general course of action planned for the organization.
Create guidelines to put your mission and values into practice.
Provide the framework for making decisions.
Give your staff and committees direction on setting procedures.
Ensure continuity for residents as Board members change over time.

Refer to page 16 in chapter three of the Governance Guide for more information on policies and procedures.

Contact the BC Non-Profit Housing Association at 604-291-2600 or 1-800-494-8859, or by email at admin@bcnpha.bc.ca, to obtain a copy of their Policy Template Manual. Housing co-operatives can contact the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC at 604-879-5111 or 1-866-879-5111, or by email at info@chf.bc.ca. The CHF BC offers workshops on policy development, and has a resource library with sample policies

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