The non-profit housing sector in BC and across Canada are increasingly challenged to deliver affordable housing. One of the imminent issues is the large number of social housing projects facing expiry of their operating agreements due to long-term operating government subsidies scheduled to end as their mortgages mature. A key concern is that some societies may not be able to continue subsidizing their non-market housing units, especially for societies with small housing portfolios.
In response to this issue, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association and BC Housing have investigated several options to help keep housing societies viable. They retained CitySpaces Consulting to undertake research of two of these options: asset transfers and shared services.
Asset transfers (also known as “mergers”) occur when an organization acquires another organization (either a project or entire housing portfolio) including acquiring their assets, debts, liabilities, and contracts.
Shared services occur when two or more organizations share resources to reduce their overall operating costs, which range from sharing administration, IT services, accounting, staff and volunteers, and office space.
CitySpaces interviewed several non-profit organizations across Canada that had experienced (or attempted) an asset transfer or shared services arrangement. From this research, our team created a step-by-step process of undertaking an asset transfer and/or shared services arrangement. In addition, four models of shared services were identified: shared management organization (SMO), management contract model, service exchange model, and sharing space.
PROJECT TEAM:
Jada Basi Gwyn Symmons