Choose from a variety of Core Courses, developed by BCNPHA, which cover topics that are core to the business of managing non-profit housing.
You set the date. We'll bring our comprehensive courses, led by a BCNPHA-certified instructor, to your meeting room. Or perhaps you know others in your region who share your questions. Band together, choose a convenient meeting space, and bring in the course you need. The more people there, the less it costs for each registrant.
Half-day courses are 3 hours and full-day courses are 6 hours... choose the dates and times that work best for you. We can even hold sessions on evenings or weekends!
Click here for a full listing of our courses and the organizations they will benefit the most.
We also offer specialized courses such as:
To plan a course in your region, contact Kate Nielsen, Education Program Coordinator, or call 1-800-494-8859, Ext. 224 or 604-291-2600, Ext. 224.
To download a PDF version of our Education Services Brochure, click here.
BCNPHA's Core Courses Include:
- Building Effective Boards
- Board Basics: Everything you Wanted to Know About Being a Board Member But were Afraid to Ask
- Landlord-Tenant Relations
- Maintenance Works Day 1 Preventative Maintenance: Planning for Success
- Maintenance Works Day 2 Tools of the Trade: A Practical Guide to Hands-on Maintenance
- Operating Agreements and Budgets
- Marketing Mixed Income Developments
- Making Policies That Work
- The Right Staff
- Tools for Tenant Involvement
- Replacement Reserves (And How to Fund Them)
- Creating Your Replacement Reserve Plan (Customized)
- Dealing with Disputes
- Non-Profit Housing Employer’s Guide
Interested in Development? Select any one of these half-day courses!
- Determining Housing Need
- Addressing Housing Demand in Communities
- Creating a Successful Development Team
- Making Successful Proposals
- Steps in the Development Process
- Using the Market to Create Affordable Housing
- Ready, Set, Build!
BCNPHA's Core Courses Include:
Building Effective Boards
This full-day course provides an overview of board roles and responsibilities by examining the five generally recognized functions they serve in non-profit organizations: Trustee, Decision-maker, Perpetuator, Advisor and Representative. Participants will discuss how these ideal functions translate into legal and managerial responsibilities, and they will examine the boards role in such activities as policy-making, financial management and staff evaluation. Participants will learn from practical case exercises and their own experience. A great orientation for new directors!
Top of pageBoard Basics: Everything you Wanted to Know About Being a Board Member But were Afraid to Ask
This practical half-day workshop is essential for new directors and a great refresher for others. What are the board's functions and what is your role as a director? Learn what you can delegate and how to monitor the work of staff and committees. Find out what makes your board effective and how to make a positive contribution as a director.
Top of pageLandlord-Tenant Relations
This workshop is a thorough exploration of BC's Residential Tenancy Act and Regulations. Intended for both landlords and tenants, this interactive workshop will explore both sides of the issues. It will include topics such as: agreements, pet clauses, access, inspections, security deposits, termination and possession. The instructor will review the Residential Tenancy Office's Policy Guidelines and Dispute Resolution Rules of Order, as well as communication techniques that can help defuse problems before they require formal dispute resolution. Participants will also learn how to effectively prepare for dispute resolution and discuss procedures during a hearing. Learn from others' experience and case studies to find out what works and what to avoid!
Top of pageMaintenance Works Day 1 Preventative Maintenance: Planning for Success
A well-planned preventative maintenance program can reduce costs and help property retain its value and rentability. This course stresses planning for both long-term and routine maintenance tasks. Day 1 gives you the tools and techniques required to plan and manage unit inspections, servicing, cleaning, and maintenance contracts.
Top of pageMaintenance Works Day 2 Tools of the Trade: A Practical Guide to Hands-on Maintenance
Do you have a caretaker, resident manager or maintenance staff? Then this workshop is essential! This full day consists of a problem-solving workshop that will help hands-on maintenance staff and field staff to do their jobs more effectively. Topics covered include: Appliance Repairs; Doors and Windows; and Boiler and Furnaces. Day 2 can also be presented as The Ins and Outs of Locks: a hands-on primer on lock pinning.
Top of pageOperating Agreements and Budgets
Your Operating Agreement with BC Housing or CMHC is one of the most important legal documents governing the management of your society. This full-day workshop surveys the operating agreements of various programs and highlights both similarities and key differences between them. It offers a plain language explanation of your rights and obligations under your particular agreement(s) and how they affect all aspects of your day to day operations. One area, The Operating Budget, is singled out for detailed examination. You'll learn what goes into creating a good budget and how to use it as a management tool.
Top of pageMarketing Mixed Income Developments
Housing built under the Homes BC program, and some earlier federal programs, includes a mix of moderate-income market renters as well as lower-income (subsidized) residents. This half-day course will give you information and skills that will help you appeal to the conventional rental market. You will learn the basics of market research, how to develop a marketing plan and materials that will sell the strengths and benefits of living in a non-profit housing community. Some time will also be spent discussing management styles and approaches that can help reduce turnover in market units.
Top of pageMaking Policies That Work
In this hands-on half-day workshop, participants will discover what makes policies effective and why we need them to properly manage our organizations. You'll identify where "policy gaps" are in your own non-profit, distinguish policies from procedures, critique existing policies using proven criteria and learn to apply those criteria by writing new policies that are clear, concise, fair, legal and enforceable. Learn about BCNPHA?s Policy Template Guide to help you prepare your policies.
Top of pageThe Right Staff
This full-day course will help you find the best staff and teach you how to get the best out of them. What?s the difference between an employee and an independent contractor, and how do you decide which is best for you? How do you write effective job descriptions, policies and employment contracts? Staff structures may differ with the size of an organization, but good employment practices apply, whether a society has one employee or 100. What are your rights and obligations as an employer? Learn how to plan and conduct interviews, practice progressive discipline and evaluate employee performance.
Top of pageTools for Tenant Involvement
This half-day workshop will be of interest to both landlords and tenants. Maintain the health of your housing community by involving residents in its operation. The type and extent of involvement will vary, but all societies can benefit when tenants become more committed to the community in which they live. This introduction to the subject looks at the philosophy behind tenant participation, its pros and cons, and a number of possible ways to put it into practice.
Top of pageReplacement Reserves (And How to Fund Them)
This half-day workshop will lay the foundation for developing a capital plan. Having enough money in your replacement reserve fund when capital items need to be replaced is a key responsibility of non-profit housing managers. In this workshop you will learn how to determine when eligible items need to be replaced, how to calculate the amounts of funds required and how to invest those funds to maximize returns. Planning is the key, and you will leave this workshop with the tools and techniques to develop a plan for your properties.
Top of pageCreating Your Replacement Reserve Plan (Customized)
Do you have enough money to cover your future replacement reserve needs? At the conclusion of this 6-hour customized workshop, participants will have a 90% completed Replacement Reserve Plan in spreadsheet form, tailored to one of their developments. The hands-on approach will provide the experience needed to develop and adapt plans for their entire portfolio.
Top of pageDealing with Disputes
This half-day workshop will provide an in-depth understanding of the dispute mechanism of the Residential Tenancy Act, and promote a conflict prevention approach to tenant relations. Participants will leave with a range of tools to help them: identify and resolve potential disputes with tenants; use basic conflict resolution techniques in their relationships with tenants; and avoid costly and time-consuming RTB Dispute Resolution hearings.
Top of pageNon-Profit Housing Employer’s Guide
Are you a non-unionized non-profit housing employer? Are you looking for tools
that will help you to ensure fairness and consistency in your job classifications,
job descriptions, and salary and benefits structure? In this 3-hour workshop you will
learn:
- What a pay system is and isn't
- The five steps to designing a pay system
- How a pay system works
- How to use the workbook, The Non-Profit Housing Employer's Guide.
Many people like a good mystery but not when it comes to how their pay is
determined, so sign up for this workshop and get the tools that will make you an
even more effective manager of your human resources. The workshop fee
includes the workbook and CD!
Interested in Development? Select any one of these half-day courses!
Determining Housing Need
We all recognize the need for affordable housing in our communities, but funders want to see that recognition backed up with hard information. This workshop will teach you how to research and use data on housing stock, demographics and income ? as well as personal stories ? to build a case for affordable housing that is unique to your community. Sure to increase your chances of making a successful application for units!
Top of pageAddressing Housing Demand in Communities
Youve recognized and documented the need for affordable housing in your community. Now, how can that need be addressed? Who are our allies in this process? Are government programs the only routes to meeting our communitys housing needs, or are there other alternatives? By exploring these questions, this workshop will help you develop an outreach strategy and select an approach to housing that works best for your community and your prospective tenants.
Top of pageCreating a Successful Development Team
Youll come away from this workshop able to assemble a development team who will deliver a well-built project that meets the needs of your society and its client group. Youll have a better understanding of your responsibilities and obligations as an owner and those of other team members at each stage of the development process. The workshop explains the role of your development consultant, who represents your society's interests and co-ordinates the process on your behalf.
Top of pageMaking Successful Proposals
This workshop will outline and describe an effective proposal writing model. The workshop does not address proposals for any specific program; rather, the techniques and principles in this workshop apply to any proposal process. Participants will discuss the key elements of an effective funding proposal. Sample proposals will be evaluated for credibility, content, and clarity by using applicable selection criteria. Skills and knowledge from this workshop are fully portable to many other aspects of doing business as a non-profit organization!
Top of pageSteps in the Development Process
What development approach makes sense for your society? Design-build? Design-tender? Who are the key players and what roles do they have? This workshop will give participants the tools to oversee the development process and administer related financial and construction documents. In addition to getting an overview of the process, participants will learn how to protect their society from foreseeable legal liabilities during construction.
Top of pageUsing the Market to Create Affordable Housing
Participants will identify and discuss the roles, relationships and resources of all parties involved in the development of housing. Then they will use this understanding to find ways to create affordable housing outside of traditional government programs. Since this process may involve new and possibly unknown partners, the workshop will help participants recognize both the promise and the pitfalls of this approach. Highlights of several successful endeavours, as well as a cautionary tale or two, will be discussed.
Top of pageReady, Set, Build!
You've done your business plan and needs assessment. What's next? This one-day workshop which will outline the development process and cover the following topics:
- Steps in the Development Process
- Creating a Successful Development Team
- How to Make Successful Proposals
Plus, we'll touch on using the market to create affordable housing, and affordable housing partnerships.
Participants will learn:
- The key elements of an effective funding proposal;
- What to expect at each stage of housing development;
- What development approach makes sense for your society;
- Who are the key players in the development process and what are their roles;
- How to assemble a development team that will deliver a well-built project that meets the needs of your society and its client group;
- Your responsibilities and obligations as an owner and those of other team members ;
- Ways to create affordable housing outside of traditional government programs; and
- Keys to successful partnerships