Good evening. Thank you again for the invitation to appear this evening.
My name is Tim Ross. I'm the executive director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. CHF Canada is the national voice of housing co-operatives from coast to coast to coast.
In a world of growing housing insecurity, unbearable rent increases and social isolation, housing co-operatives offer solutions to these economic and social challenges. Co-operative housing is a well-documented success story. For over 50 years, co-ops have been providing good-quality and affordable housing owned and managed by their members. There are more than 2,200 housing co-operatives located in every province and territory. They are home to a quarter of a million Canadians.
Co-op housing operates at cost, meaning members' housing costs remain stable. They cover the costs of operating and maintaining vibrant communities.
Research from last year proves that co-op homes cost $400 to $500 less per month than comparable private rental buildings in similar cities. Think of what an extra $400 or $500 a month could mean to your household. It could mean more nutritious meals. It could mean supporting extracurriculars for kids. It could mean saving for education, saving for a house or saving for retirement. The value of co-ops is well known to their members, but we want to do more to build more co-operative housing.
Another benefit of co-operative housing is that co-ops offer security of tenure. There is no outside landlord who might sell or renovict the property, or jack the rents just because the markets can bear it. Finally, co-ops are very strong communities. The members who live there care about their community, and they care about their neighbours.
The value of co-op housing has been recognized by governments of all political stripes throughout Canada’s history, most recently in the legislation that is the purpose of this study by the committee and in the fall economic statement.
I wanted to offer that context before I spoke a bit about our reaction to Bill C-56.
Bill C-56 includes the new GST rental rebate, which has been designed to incentivize the construction of purpose-built rental housing. While we know that increasing the supply of multi-unit rental housing is important, we need to make sure that we are building the right kind of supply—the type of housing that people can actually access and afford. Co-ops certainly fit the bill.
The fall economic statement proposes including co-operative housing in this rebate. We appreciate this policy change, as we know it will be directly passed on to future members living in future co-op homes built across the country.
Reduced project costs will translate to lower project debts, resulting in lower housing charges for the members from the outset. Through the co-op housing model that operates on a not-for-profit basis, these savings will be passed on directly to the households occupying these new co-op homes from day one, and this benefit will increase over time.
I would also be remiss if I didn't speak about this rebate in the context of the co-operative housing development program. We are quite excited to see the co-operative housing sector growing in Canada. The federal budget in 2022 included the first federal investment in co-op housing in over 30 years, as well as a commitment to codesign the program with the co-operative housing sector.
CHF Canada encourages the federal government to launch the co-op housing development program as soon as possible, as there is a lost opportunity cost in waiting for a program to launch as costs continue to rise.
Our excitement for this program is tempered by the fact that we know more is needed to solve the housing crisis. Ms. Marie-Josée Houle gave some of these numbers as well. The key to solving the crisis is not just building more homes; it’s building more community homes, meaning more co-op and non-profit housing.
You would ask, perhaps, “At what cost?” I know we're all mindful of the fiscal situation and its potential impact on inflation. It's very important that we tame inflation.
I want to highlight a study that was just published today by the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association. It was written by Deloitte. It demonstrates the benefit to Canada's economy if we continue to grow the community housing sector in Canada just up to the OECD average. By doing so, by 2030, we would increase economic productivity in Canada by 5.7% to 9.3%. It would lift our GDP by up to $136 billion. What's very important is that this study further demonstrated that government investment in the creation of new community housing was non-inflationary.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to share some of these updates from the co-operative housing sector. I look forward to your questions.