Correspondence from Isabel Evans, President, You Hold the Key Re: Co-op Housing Crunch

August 2014

His Worship Mayor Graham Hill and Council Town of View Royal 45 View Avenue Victoria, BC V9B 1A6

Dear Mayor Hill:

We need your help to protect the most vulnerable households in housing co-op communities in British Columbia.

The four housing co-ops in the Town of View Royal are among the hundreds in BC facing a crunch as their agreements with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation come to an end. When those federal agreements end, so will the rent assistance that makes the homes of their low-income members affordable. Across the province, about one in three co-op households will be affected and you hold the key to helping them stay in their homes.

The co-op members who now receive rent assistance are seniors, single parents, people with disabilities, new Canadians and others on fixed or limited incomes. In other words, they are the people who can least afford to lose their homes in Canada’s most challenging rental housing market.

During the time since most of the housing co-ops in BC were built, housing has become a provincial responsibility. But there is currently no provincial program to take the place of federal housing agreements as they expire in the coming years. CHF BC is urging the BC government to implement a provincial rent supplement program for low-income co-op members when those agreements end. It’s a fair, cost-effective solution to a problem that affects nearly 4,000 low-income households.

I am enclosing a booklet that tells the story of the co-op housing crunch and how it will affect the lives of your constituents and many others in British Columbia. Also included is a list of housing co-ops in your riding and the number of co-op homes in your community. I would be pleased to provide additional information on request or to arrange a meeting with representatives of CHF BC and the housing co-ops in the Town of View Royal.

Please join us in urging the Honourable Rich Coleman, Minister Responsible for Housing, to consider our proposal and implement a provincial rent supplement program for low-income co-op members as federal housing agreements end. We would also welcome your support in calling on the federal government to assist in funding this program by reinvesting the savings it will realize as its funding obligations cease.

You hold the key to helping us protect the most vulnerable members of our co-op communities. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours truly,

Isabel Evans President

P.S. For more information or to arrange a meeting please contact Don Hauka 604-879-5111 or keycampaign@chf.bc.ca

cc: Municipal councillors