Canadian housing co-ops welcome the Canada Rental Protection Fund

Published April 04, 2024

Housing co-ops applaud today’s announcement of the Canada Rental Protection Fund. It is a meaningful response to the fact that for every affordable home created between 2011 and 2021 with support from federal programs, we are losing eleven affordable rentals in the private market.

Increasing the market share of co-operative and non-profit housing through acquisition will protect affordability and security of tenure for renters immediately and for the long-term. Research shows that to address the housing crisis, Canada needs to, at a minimum, double the supply of community and co-operative housing. Investment in community housing supply is non-inflationary and would have the added benefit of boosting Canada’s ailing productivity gap by 5.7 per cent to 9.3 per cent, according to recent research.

The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada), alongside the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, the National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc., and the Rental Protection Fund recently established the Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund for this purpose. CHF Canada looks forward to working with the federal government, through the Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund, to develop and launch the Canada Rental Protection Fund as soon as possible.

“Renters are at risk today, so we are pleased that the federal government has committed to expediting this program” stated Tim Ross, Executive Director of CHF Canada. “Canada’s housing co-ops are ready and able to do their part to address the housing crisis by protecting renters through the provision of secure, affordable co-op homes in strong communities. This Fund is an important step in growing the non-market community housing sector, in order to make life more affordable for all households, as well as boost productivity”.

For more information or media inquiries please contact

Dallas Alderson, Director of Public Affairs and Policy, CHF Canada

613-715-3323, dalderson@chfcanada.coop