Co-op housing prominent at CMHC National Housing Conference

Published January 11, 2019

As governments and other stakeholders work together to turn the National Housing Strategy into results, the remarkable success of Canada’s co-op housing model is top of mind.

At the annual National Housing Conference hosted by CMHC in late November, there were a number of co-op specific sessions. One session called “The co-operative community housing model: Still strong after 50 years” was moderated by Blair Hamilton, CHF Canada’s Program Manager, Co-op Services, Prairie Region. It featured a panel of co-op housing representatives including CHF BC’s Executive Director Thom Armstrong and FECHIMM’s Director of Co-operative Support, Louis-Philippe Myre. You can watch the video of this session online, and there is also a French version.

Co-ops were also mentioned in another session called “Is it time for a disruptive homeownership model in Canada?” which also featured Blair Hamilton. Here are the English and French videos of that session.

This high profile for co-op housing is thanks to several factors, including decades of strong advocacy efforts by co-op housing federations and by many outspoken co-op champions.

It’s also the result of the impressive track record of co-op housing in Canada and around the world that was the subject of a recent study, “New Models for Co-operative Housing” a synthesis report prepared for CMHC by R.A. Malatest & Associations Ltd. This report highlights several co-op housing development initiatives in other countries that could be used to help support more development in Canada.

All of this is good news as Canada’s co-op housing movement gets behind the Vision Framework of “Co-op Housing for All” adopted at CHF Canada’s 2018 AGM in Victoria, BC.