Housing co-ops welcome National Housing Strategy

For Immediate Release (Ottawa, November 22, 2017) – Canada’s housing co-operatives welcomed today’s release of the federal government’s National Housing Strategy designed to protect low-income members of housing co-operatives and to build new affordable housing for Canadians in need.

The imminent end of subsidies for low-income households threatened over 20,000 low-income co-op households across Canada, consisting mostly of seniors, single-parent families, new and Indigenous Canadians, and those living with disabilities. The strategy announced detailed plans to protect long term affordability for 385,000 low-income residents of community housing, including co-operatives.

“After years of uncertainty, we welcome the federal government’s detailed plan on how it will protect the affordability of co-operative housing for our low-income neighbours,” said CHF Canada President Nicole Waldron. “We are pleased to see that the government sees the value of protecting, preserving and expanding co-operative housing, and we look forward to partnering on solutions to the housing crisis.”

The strategy also included plans to build new affordable housing, including an expansion of community housing. Housing co-operatives own an estimated $5.6 billion in assets, and are well positioned to support the expansion of affordable, co-operative housing.

“It is important that we not only protect what we have, but we also need to grow in order to help more Canadians access an affordable place to call home,” said Karla Skoutajan, Acting Executive Director of CHF Canada. “We look forward to working with the federal government to ensure that these initiatives are rolled out in a timely and seamless manner.”

CHF Canada is the national voice of the Canadian co-operative housing movement. Its members include over 900 non-profit housing co-operatives and other organizations across Canada. More than a quarter of a million Canadians live in housing co-ops, in every province and territory.

For more information:

Tim Ross, Director, Strategic Affairs, 613.314.6267 (mobile), tross@chfcanada.coop

Douglas Wong, Program Manager, Policy and Government Relations, 613.293.0142 (mobile), dwong@chfcanada.coop

Scott Jackson, Program Manager, National Communications, 604.879.4116 ext 122, or 778.227.3864 (mobile), sjackson@chfcanada.coop