Events at CHF Canada’s 2001 annual meeting

Hundreds rally for housing at AGM

Delegates to the CHF Canada annual general meeting called on the federal government to build more co-ops and other affordable housing at our AGM rally.

"The 700 delegates we have here today, and our members in housing co-ops across Canada, know how lucky we are to live in housing co-ops," said President Wes Hosler.

"But we know that thousands of Canadians are not so lucky. There are three to five-year waiting lists for most housing co-ops and for other forms of affordable housing. Our member housing co-ops get calls each day from people desperate to find affordable housing."

Vanessa Geary, co-ordinator of the Tenants Rights Action Coalition, spoke of the problems faced by many renters in today’s market. "Over 500,000 Canadian, one in two renters, pays more than 30 per cent of their income on rent. One in four pays more than 50 per cent. These people are only one rent cheque away from becoming homeless."

That’s exactly what happened to Heather Blake, president of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto and a member of Toronto Women’s Housing Co-op. Before moving into the co-op three years ago, Heather was essentially homeless.

"I never thought this could happen to me," she said. "I had a good job, a place to live, my life was going well. But when I couldn’t work due to health reasons, I couldn’t afford to pay my rent and soon lost my housing. While I was never literally on the street, I had no home and had to rely on friends who would let me spend the night at their place."

While Helen Lansdell was never homeless, she knows very well the problems facing most tenants. Before moving into Ramsay Heights Housing Co-op in Calgary, she moved her two children from one substandard apartment to another.

Gary Panagiotidis, president of the Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C., praised B.C. and Quebec for continuing to build new affordable housing. He urged the federal government to commit funding for new co-op and non-profit housing.

Delegates to the annual meeting passed a motion calling on the federal government to fund a new affordable housing program for Canadians, acting with other levels of government or alone.

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Mountain View thanks the co-op community

John Fair, a member of Mountain View Co-operative Housing Association in Port Moody, B.C. described the fire that left him and 46 other families homeless. The co-op was only four years away from paying off their mortgage when a spark from an assistant plumber’s welding torch caused a fire that destroyed one of their five buildings.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, the buildings were insured and each member had the contents of their unit insured through CHF Canada’s MemberGuard. The co-op is making plans to re-build.

The members of Mountain View included a thank you letter in the kits for AGM participants. "The overwhelming support that has poured in from the co-operative community all across Canada in the form of donations, calls and letters is a true symbol of what the term "co-operative means," the letter says, "but when it comes from the hearts of so many, it truly defines the golden thread that makes the co-operative housing sector special. I, as well as the many members here at Mountain View, are very proud to be members of this amazing organization."

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Help for BC’s leaky co-ops

Delegates heard a presentation on the problems faced by co-ops experiencing building envelope failure (leaky co-ops).

Delegates at last year’s AGM passed a resolution to support co-ops in British Columbia suffering from serious building envelope failure (leaky co-ops). At the 2001 annual meeting, members received an update on the situation and were asked to continue their support to find lasting solutions to this terrible crisis.

This is a transcript of the presentation. It was started off by Donna Charbonneau, CHF Canada’s Ontario regional director:

Most of the leaky co-ops in the country are in BC. There are more than 50 leaky housing co-ops – about 20% of the co-ops in the province. That adds up to more than 3,000 co-op homes.

Leaky co-ops suffer from what the experts call "premature building envelope failure". That’s a technical description of the problem. But the impact is not just on buildings – it’s on people and their families.

This used to be a bedroom for two children. They sleep in the living room now because the mould has taken over the ceiling and wall in their bedroom.

Members stopped meeting in this common room because parts of the ceiling fell in. It’s in use again because the rot got so bad that the whole ceiling was removed. Now the water just pours from the ceiling at inconvenient times during meetings and the strong odour of mould and mildew gives some people bad headaches.

This is another common room ceiling. You might think it has been charred by fire, but those dark spots are mould. The exposed wires are also a safety hazard that makes the room off-limits to members.

The list of symptoms goes on and on. Members are afraid to change light bulbs because their fixtures have filled with water. Balconies are closed off. People move from unit to unit to escape the worst of the damage and the danger to their health.

Some members try to cope in the most ingenious ways.

Here’s a closet in one co-op. The member woke up one night to discover water pouring in through the hole around the light fixture. His solution?

After using buckets to bail water for hours, he set up this funnel under the hole. The funnel takes the water through a hose and empties it into his bathtub. Now we know that co-ops are supposed to be modest housing, but really....

Sometimes you have to laugh. But the big picture isn’t all that funny. Co-ops are facing financial ruin because they can’t afford to fix their buildings. And they can’t collect housing charges on units that are empty because they’re not safe to live in.

Isn’t there a solution, you ask? Yes and no. The province’s Homeowner Protection Office can provide ten-year, interest-free loans to leaky co-ops. In fact, they’ve approved 19 loans, some going back all the way to June of 1999.

These are federally funded co-ops, so CMHC is supposed to provide the loan as a second mortgage while the HPO pays the interest for the first ten years. And only CMHC can help out with additional financing if the co-op can’t afford a second mortgage.

So what’s the problem? The problem is that CMHC has only approved four of those loan applications – the last one in November, during the federal election campaign. The rest are stuck in limbo. The reasons for this appalling lack of progress are complicated, and we don’t have time to recite them in detail this morning. But something has gone terribly wrong, and co-op members are paying the price.

With each passing day, the condition of their buildings deteriorates. Members give up in frustration and move – if they have somewhere to go. Those who stay deal with the health risks of toxic mould – a danger we are only just beginning to learn more about.

And with each delay, the cost of much needed repairs grows steadily higher, increasing the odds that whole co-ops may be lost because it just won’t make sense to fix them anymore.

What’s really frustrating is how long it has taken for CMHC and the federal government to take this crisis seriously. For years we’ve been asking for the help we need to fix the problems and save the public’s 30-year investment in this valuable – and irreplaceable – stock of affordable housing. The result? I can count the number that have received help on the fingers of one hand.

Are there any silver linings in this cloud? I want to ask Wayne Callaghan, chair of CHF BC’s leaky co-op committee, to answer that question for you.

Wayne Callaghan:

Thank you. What Donna has just reported to you is true – and more. But not all the news is bad. CHF BC is blessed with an exceptional group of volunteers who make up our leaky co-op committee. We meet regularly to share information, support each other and plan our strategy.

We are also very grateful for the support we’ve received from all over the country, especially from our fellow co-operators in Ontario. Your letters, your meetings with MPs and your words of encouragement have meant a great deal to us. In fact, it’s more important now than ever, so please don’t let up.

We are also encouraged that CHF Canada has recently hired a full-time co-op services officer in the Vancouver office to work on the leaky co-op problem. Roland Nogue is hard at work with CHF BC staff and volunteers to help leaky co-ops analyse their problems and find the right solutions. This is welcome relief.

Finally, our regional CMHC office has just agreed to be part of a joint committee made up of CMHC, CHF BC and CHF Canada representatives. The committee will be a forum for all three organizations to work together on the problems facing leaky co-ops. Its first meeting was held earlier this week, and I hear it went very well. No one thinks that fixing leaky co-ops is going to be easy, but we welcome the opportunity to work more closely with CMHC in the coming months and we look forward to positive results.

So is this a crisis? Most definitely yes! Is the situation desperate? Absolutely. Are we giving up? Most definitely not! With the continuing support of CHF Canada and housing co-ops all across the country, and with the perseverance of our co-op volunteers and staff here in BC, we will find the answers, one way or another.

I hope that we’ll have better news to report to you at next year’s AGM in Hamilton. In the meantime, please help us keep up the pressure on Ottawa from all over the country until every last leak is fixed.

Members of CHF Canada can find more information on leaky co-ops, and ways they can help, in our Members Network.

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