Making First Nation Policies for the Right Reasons in the Right Way
Written policies and procedures can help housing staff and leadership manage housing fairly and consistently. They can also help home occupants understand their role in housing.
Developing and revising policies effectively requires proper planning. Knowing how to manage the development and implementation of housing policies and procedures can go a long way to help successfully implement policies and procedures.
Typically, housing policies are statements that explain in general terms:
- what an organization wants to do;
- why it wants to do it; and
- how it wants to do it.
Policies start with good, understandable, clear decisions based on an organization's:
- mission;
- vision;
- values;
- ethics; and
- objectives.
Developing Effective Policies
Policies should be easy to read and understand. When possible, a consistent format should be used for all your community’s policies to make it easier for users to understand and find the information they need.
Usually, a policy contains the following information:
- Title of policy;
- Policy background including who participated in drafting, how it was developed when it was approved, how it will be distributed, and the signatures of those who approved the policy;
- Date when the policy takes effect and date when the policy ends (if required);
- Dates of revisions to the policy;
- Explanation of the purpose of the policy;
- Description of programs covered by the policy;
- Specific policy information, including any procedures that need to be followed and who is responsible for what;
- Definitions of key terms for the policy, if required;
- Explanation of how the policy is implemented;
- Description of how any exceptions to the policy will be handled.
All this information may not be necessary for every policy. The information can be presented in any order and manner; however, it should be the same for similar policies.
