Thank you very much.
Thank you to the chair and the committee for the invitation to appear here today.
I'm going to make a few points about housing co-operatives in the context of a high-inflation environment. I'm going to speak about their affordability, security of tenure and strong sense of community.
Many Canadians know about renting and owning, but there's another alternative. Today, a quarter of a million Canadians are members of housing co-operatives, owning their homes together from coast to coast to coast.
Co-op housing is more affordable than market rental housing because the vast majority of co-ops operate on a not-for-profit basis, resulting in smaller year-over-year rent increases. Because they are mission-driven, their affordable rents will be affordable forever and generally able to become more affordable over time.
Co-op housing offers security of ownership. There is no outside landlord who might sell, move in or have an incentive to renovict. Co-op member ownership means that you have a real say in how your community is run.
Co-ops are inclusive by design. Almost all operate on a mixed-income model, with a portion of members paying an economic rent that allows the co-op to balance its books and to support members with low incomes paying a subsidized rent through rental assistance provided by governments.
Beyond a mix of income levels, co-ops typically reflect the diversity of the communities in which they're located. They make decisions through democratic processes that engage all members—something that doesn't happen in private rental housing.
Co-ops are also strong communities. During the pandemic, we witnessed countless stories of neighbours helping neighbours with child care, groceries and other acts of mutual aid that money just can't buy.
However, for the vast majority of Canadians today, the solution to their housing crisis will not be found in a co-op. With reasonable rents and security of tenure, existing co-ops rarely have vacancies, and very few new co-ops have been built in recent years.
The co-op homes that exist today are largely a product of robust and dedicated federal programs that supported their development, primarily through the 1970s and through to the 1990s. That is when the first generation of co-op housing was built, and it continues to pay dividends today in providing security, affordability and dignity for households and communities across the country. If we want to share this security, dignity and affordability with more households, we need to make sure that housing co-ops are part of the supply mix in Canada and support the development of new housing co-operatives.
That's why we're quite pleased with the news announced in the recent federal budget to launch a new co-op housing development program that sets us on the path to building new and much-needed co-op homes.
I want to reinforce the fact that co-ops are more affordable than market rents and more stable in year-over-year cost increases. Moderate rents in co-op housing over the long term contrast with the trends we're seeing in Canada's rental markets: rapidly escalating rents that mean fewer housing options affordable to low- and moderate-income households.
We recently undertook a longitudinal study comparing rents in co-ops to rents in private market buildings in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa from 2006 to 2021. The results were stark. We found that co-op housing charges are consistently lower than rents in comparable buildings in the private market by one-quarter to one-third, and that gap actually widens over time. This represents hundreds of dollars per month and thousands per year left in people's pockets to buy healthy food, put the kids in sports, advance education or save for retirement.
If you are looking for solutions to help Canadians in this high-inflation environment, this needs to start at home, and it needs to start with more co-op housing development.
With the minute I have left, I also want to recognize that tomorrow is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It's in this context that we need to recognize that indigenous housing needs are disproportionate to the rest of the country. We must see an accelerated focus on the development of a “by indigenous, for indigenous” urban, rural and northern housing strategy that is fully supported and fully funded by the federal government.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today. We look forward to working together to build a successful co-op housing development program, so that more Canadians can have a safe and affordable place to call home in co-op housing.