The highlight of the 2007 Ontario Region annual meeting, held in Winnipeg on June 9, was a promise by the Ontario government to reform the eviction system for housing co‑ops.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, John Gerretsen, Mario Sergio, MPP for York West and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister, told delegates that his government is ready to move forward on reform of the eviction system for housing co‑ops. He referred to a letter from the Minister to the Ontario Council that outlines the key elements of the model the Minister is proposing, which closely mirrors the model of reform endorsed by Ontario members in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

“This is a very significant breakthrough,” says Dale Reagan, Managing Director of the Ontario Region. “We’ve worked on this for years and we’d still be waiting if it weren’t for the personal commitment of Minister Gerretsen and Mario Sergio to finding a better way to deal with co‑op evictions. There are still a lot of details to be worked out but we’re very appreciative of this announcement.”

Mr. Sergio also reported that his government has been hearing from a lot of co‑op members on our proposal to upload co‑op housing. He told delegates that “Minister Gerretsen has ensured its inclusion in the Provincial-Municipal Review, as part of the overall review of social housing and other services.”

On a third key issue of importance to co‑op members, Mr. Sergio announced that the Minister wants to see a significant portion of the remaining units in the Affordable Housing Program, estimated at around 500, allocated to co‑ops and other community-based non-profits that offer permanent affordability and community benefits.

In keeping with the AGM theme of environmental sustainability, Lindsey Reed, CEO of the Social Housing Services Corporation, spoke on the SHSC’s Green Light program. This innovative and extremely important initiative aims to lower energy and water use, related utility costs and green house gas emissions in Ontario's social housing community.

Resolutions

Delegates passed two resolutions.

Resolution R1, Stronger Together: Upload Co‑op Housing, calls on co‑ops to support the campaign to upload co‑op housing and to press candidates in the provincial election to support the upload.

Resolutions R2, New co‑op housing in Ontario, asks the Ontario government to commit itself to solve the chronic shortage of affordable rental housing in Ontario and calls on housing co‑ops to use the 2007 provincial election to press candidates to support a plan of action to build more co‑op housing.

Council elections

Delegates elected two at-large Council members: Joseph Zebrowski and Carol MacEachern. Judith Collins was acclaimed as the federations’ member on the Council. On June 10 the new Council met and elected Amanda Yetman as President, Carol MacEachern and Fran Power as Vice-Presidents and Patrick Newman as Treasurer.

Long-term service awards

The Ontario Region honoured 45 co‑op housing staff for long-term service to housing co‑ops.  The awards are presented to co‑op staff who have served for five, ten, 15, 20 or 25 years in housing co‑ops.

On-line and downloadable documents

• Minutes of the 2007 Ontario Region annual meeting (pdf)
• Resolutions considered at the 2007 Ontario Region annual meeting
• CHF Canada 2006 annual report (pdf)
• CHF Canada 2006 audited financial statements (pdf)
• Report on actions taken on the 2006 Ontario Region annual meeting resolutions (pdf)
• Resolutions considered at the 2006 Ontario Region annual meeting

• Speech by Mario Sergio, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
• Letter from Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, John Gerretsen, outlining proposed changes to eviction law for housing co‑ops.