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FEATURED RESOURCE: New Conflict Series

Published February 23, 2023

As our February Featured Resource, CHF Canada is pleased to launch a new series of resources dealing with the impact of conflict in co-op housing communities.

We are committed to providing co-ops with education and resources to support Healthy Communities and Good Governance. From working with housing co-ops, we know that unresolved conflict can create tensions that interfere with the health of a co-op community. The tensions can linger for many years, and spill over into every corner of the co-op.

To better understand the issue, Dawn Richardson, Program Manager, Co-op and Planning Services completed conflict management training. Dawn led our co-op services staff to develop a plan to help co-ops deal with conflict. We consulted with Shawn Conway, a conflict mediator who has worked with some regional co-op housing federations. His expertise helped us shape a plan for the first five resources in the series.

These resources provide our best advice to assist members, Board of Directors and staff as they face conflict challenges. To be clear, we are not training members to become conflict resolution experts! A key CHF Canada recommendation is for co-ops to use conflict mediation services. Mediation services are an effective way for co-ops to handle conflict that has grown from a minor problem to a large one.

The Conflict series will help clarify the roles for members, Board of Directors and staff when conflict occurs in the co-op. Understanding everyone’s responsibilities makes it easier to find solutions. The series will also help co-op members and staff understand how to handle minor conflicts quickly. Dawn likens conflict in a co-op to “a communicable disease: it is easily spread, but with some healthy habits, we can contain and treat it!”

You will find the first two in the series in our Resources section:

  • Conflict Series #1: What is conflict? Explore the nature of conflict and its impact on housing co-op communities.
  • Conflict Series #2: Member-to-member conflict. Take a closer look at member-to-member conflict, and the responsibilities of the Board of Directors, management staff and the members involved.

Are you registered on our website? Since our resources are for CHF Canada members only, you will need to register an account on our website to see the Resources section.


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