Happy New Year! Here’s to a year of good health, lots of love, and plenty of laughter.

Recruitment of HRS Steering Committee Members

 The Housing Resources Service (HRS) Steering Committee is currently recruiting for Steering Committee Members.

Overall, the Steering Committee’s responsibilities are to provide guidance and advisory to the HRS services to ensure they align with the participating First Nations’ needs and encourage networking, sharing information and capacity building among all participating First Nation.  The Committee consists of up to eight (8) representatives from the First Nations communities of the Nlaka’pamux, and Secwepemc Nations and Upper Nicola Band.

The Committee meets quarterly or more frequently, as needed.  The successful candidate will need to complete an Oath of Confidentiality and have a letter of support or Band Council Resolution from their community.

Please send a covering letter and resume before February 18th, 2022 to HRS@antco.ca. The HRS Steering Committee will make determinations for new Members based on a criteria matrix to ensure diverse representation of First Nations communities, housing experience and knowledge, skills, and commitment to further the goals of the HRS. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at hrs@antco.ca.

HRS Webpage

 We are happy to announce that the HRS Website is now live.   We have both an external site, which is open to everyone and then an internal site that will be available for any of the communities of the Secwépemc, Nlaka’pamux and Upper Nicola.   Please take the time to visit our website at:   https://housingresources.ca.

To become a member, you will need to complete the form located at https://housingresources.ca/become-a-member.  There is no cost to become a member and the following are benefits for membership:

• Access Member’s Only Website is a place to gather and share information and allows Members to have access to the central repository of housing information provided by the HRS Members including:
• Planning and Governance includes documents and proven practices that support housing Leadership, departments, and committees with effective planning and implementation of housing projects.
• Funding and Financing includes the documents and resources on Funding Programs, Home Ownership and Mortgage and Loans
• Construction and Renovation includes documents and resources on Contractors, Inspectors and Supplier Documents, maintenance, and new construction.
• Administration and Tenant Relations includes the administration of your housing project such as policies, templates, job descriptions, asset management and tenant relations.

Information Session

The Housing Resources Service (HRS) Is hosting “HRS 101 Information Session”  on February 3, 2022 from 10:00 – 12:00pm

This information session is to provide participant with the following a general overview to HRS

• Introduction to Steering Committee Members
• Call for HRS Steering Committee Member
• Overview of HRS website (https://housingresources.ca)
• Opportunity to meet HRS Advisor
• Upcoming Webinars

 Where:   From the comfort of your home or office via Zoom.

 Register:   The sessions are free and to register, please send an email to HRS@antco.ca including your name, title, email, and we will send you an invite to the ZOOM Information Session. 

HRS Community Advisor

Sharon McKay joined the HRS Team as the Community Construction/Contract Advisor in September 2022.   Sharon’s role as the Community Construction/Contract Advisor is to assist First Nations within the HRS catchment area about housing and housing practices such as:

• Housing related capacity and training.
• Tools and knowledge needed to effectively manage their housing portfolios.
• Accessing funding and financing sources.
• Procuring quality services.
• Housing project management cycles from planning and design to contracting and completion.
• Best practices that lead to quality construction delivered on budget.
• Sample policies and templates related to housing processes and administration and encourage ongoing sharing and networking of resources among the First Nations.

Sharon can be reached at projectcoordination.44@gmail.com.