The federal government is proposing to spend billions of dollars to help more Canadians get into affordable housing and a local housing co-operative in Chatham is a success story.
Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould visited the Clairvue Housing Co-operative on St. Clair Street Wednesday for a tour and to meet some of the residents.
Gould, who was in Windsor earlier in the day, said she asked Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Ahmed Hussen which co-op she should visit and was told Clairvue, which has operated for 35 years.
“Know that you are recognized and appreciated at the national level,” she said.
The minister heard from Clairvue residents about what affordable housing has done for their lives.
Heidi Bajcar said she lived at Clairvue in 2005-06, but left to go to Toronto for job opportunities. However, her life changed and she left a bad situation. She returned to Chatham and was fortunate enough to return to Clairvue.
She said living in co-operative housing is more than having a roof over your head.
“It’s peace, it’s safety, it’s a community,” she said, adding the neighbors know each other.
Bajcar said it is also a source of independence, because without the affordable housing a co-op offers she couldn’t provide her children the life they have today.
Ange Fry, who has lived at Clairvue for 12 years, said when her son’s family ended up homeless, the co-op approved letting them move in with her.
“I had six of us in this home, and it was tough, but I never felt so much support as I did at that time, and it kept my family united,” Fry said.
She told Gould Clairvue is something that other co-ops could be modeled on, noting people have found a sense of pride and can grow because the support that exists there.
Property manager Renee Kominek said, “It’s fulfilling when you see people succeed and you somehow feel you helped people back up.”
Tina Stevens, board president of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, told Gould: “Sadly, there are too many people who face the enormous challenges that everybody shared here today.”
She also noted the housing proposal in the federal budget is the first the major investment in co-operative housing in 30 years.
“Housing is a priority for us at the federal level with our government, Gould said.
She added it being 30 years since a major investment has been made in co-ops “is something we really can’t be proud of as a country.”
Gould said when she visits co-ops across Canada the stories are the same as Clairvue.
“It’s people who have come together and are supporting each other and found community, and do what they can to help each other . . . and really get to a place of driving.”
Gould said since 2017, through the National Housing Strategy, the government has invested $72 billion in housing to help two million Canadian families find homes, which has included building 71,000 new units and repairing 400,000 units.
She said this year’s budget is about tackling all the issues when it comes to housing, which includes $1.5 billion to be invested across Canada.
The first order of business, Gould said, is to get the budget passed then funds could start rolling out by the end of the year.
The benefit of co-operative house, she said, is it is “affordable housing in perpetuity.”
Gould said the budget also includes $4 billion accelerator fund in the budget that is geared specifically to working with municipalities to unlock some of the backlogs and red tape to get more housing built, but the right kind of housing that is sustainable and inclusive.
She admits getting developers to building affordable units is part of the challenge, but noted there are incentives for developers to construct purpose-build rental units.
“Like co-ops, we haven’t built a lot of purpose-build rentals in the last 30 years and one of the challenges is we just don’t have enough rental units,” Gould said.