Housing co-ops and their members are understandably worried about the financial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. CHF BC and our allies at Housing Central have been following the news closely to keep track of the support being offered by various levels of government to housing co-ops and their members. Here are two charts:

1. A summary of the support announced so far by the provincial and federal governments for housing co-ops and non-profit societies
2. A summary of the support announced so far by the provincial and federal governments for for members of housing co-ops and tenants of non-profit housing societies. Items of particular relevance to housing co-ops or co-op members are shaded.  Links to government sources have been included where available.

This is a rapidly changing environment and some programs have been announced before details of eligibility and/or application procedures are available. We will continue to monitor government announcements and update the linked charts regularly to bring you the latest information.  Please check back frequently for more news, and let us know if you spot something that we have missed. As always, we welcome your questions at members@chf.bc.ca.

We are all dealing with unprecedented challenges navigating the COVID-19 outbreak and deciding how best to support and communicate with members.  No one has everything figured out, but we are all in this together and together we will find the best way forward.

On March 24, CHF BC issued a memo to all member co-ops called Helping Members in Financial Distress during COVID-19.  Thank you for your positive response to that memo.  We believe it sets out a sound approach, and this will add to that advice.

If you haven’t communicated with your members about April 1 housing charges, now is the time to do that.  We recommend something very simple.

First, we recommend that you send a short notice to all members similar to this sample notice (MS Word file — will download). The purpose of the memo is to advise members that:

1. If their income has not been directly affected by COVID-19, they should pay their housing charge in full on April 1 using whatever method you normally have in place, or
2. If they have experienced a loss of income due to COVID-19 that will affect their ability to pay the April 1 housing charge, they need to share that information with you right away.

Once you have determined the number of members who have suffered a loss of income due to COVID-19 you will be able to take the next steps to:

1. Help those members tap into any new sources of financial assistance available from provincial and federal governments, and
2. Determine more precisely the impact of COVID-19 on the co-op’s revenue from monthly housing charges.

CHF BC will publish a summary of the assistance available from all levels of government later today.  We will also publish additional information this week to help you make agreements with members to defer housing charge payments if needed.

We are living through a very volatile situation.  Things are changing daily, if not hourly, and we will be monitoring developments carefully to ensure that our response is relevant and appropriate.  By acting responsibly now, we will be laying the foundation for the weeks and months to come.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with your questions at members@chf.bc.ca and please stay safe.