Across Canada, one of the most challenging issues facing non-profit housing societies is the expiry of operating agreements (EOA). Operating Agreements set out the amount, duration and conditions of the subsidy provided by the provincial or federal governments, or both, for affordable housing projects. Their expiry, often tied to a 35-year amortization period, means that when the mortgage expires, societies are solely responsible for the project’s ongoing financial viability. In British Columbia, project operating agreements representing almost 30,000 units will expire by the year 2033 – 5,900 between March 2015 and March 2020.
This Expiring Operating Agreement Planning Guide was prepared for BC Housing and the BC Non-Profit Housing Association by CitySpaces Consulting, offering a step-by-step planning process that housing societies can undertake to ensure their organization is ready for expiry, and what their options are both pre- and post-expiry. Specifically, it was prepared primarily for non-profit housing societies in BC to:
- Raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities with Expiring Operating Agreements;
- Set out a step-by-step process of determining a project’s financial viability and social sustainability for Expiring Operating Agreements;
- Present options for consideration pre- and post-Expiring Operating Agreement; and
- Provide additional resources related to Expiring Operating Agreement.
The Planning Guide also highlights models of shared services and mergers derived from CitySpaces’ original research on Models of Asset Transfers and Shared Services in BC’s Non-Profit Housing Sector.
The Planning Guide is an interactive tool for users, allowing those reading on a computer to navigate among sections with hyperlinks. It also includes a number of hyperlinks to external resources that provide greater detail for specific topics. The Expiring Operating Agreement Planning Guide can be downloaded and printed, and is available on the BCNPHA website here!
PROJECT TEAM:
Jada Basi Linda Allen Gwyn Symmons Joanna Gauld