Federal bid to protect renters has major flaw

Ottawa has just committed to its largest investment in co-op housing in decades.

- DAVID OLIVE

And with no time to lose, given the severity of the housing crisis.

More than a quarter of a million Canadians live in non-profit co-op housing, including an estimated 125,000 Ontarians.

By definition, co-op housing is affordable. Co-op residents in Toronto currently pay a monthly charge for rent and maintenance of as little as $1,300 for a two-bedroom unit.

By contrast, the average asking rent on Rental.ca for a Toronto two-bedroom apartment was $3,284 in June.

Co-op housing might also be the closest approximation of permanently affordable housing that we have among solutions to the housing crisis.

Co-op buildings are owned by government agencies or community non-profit groups, which keeps them out of private hands.

So, co-op residents are safe from commonplace “renovictions” and sudden rent hikes following even minor improvements by a privatesector landlord.

At first glance, Ottawa’s announcement last month of the first major federal investment in co-ops since the 1990s is a blessing.

The feds’ new Co-operative Housing Development Program (CHDP) provides $500 million in direct funding and another $1 billion in low-interest loans to create more co-op housing.

But that is just a baby step.