Let鈥檚 buy a building, and turn it into a housing co-op.
Brian Iler was in his 20s, scarcely out of law school, when a pair of new friends pitched the idea. There was a group of them ready to go in together, all young and, in Iler鈥檚 mind, still 鈥渁 bunch of kids.鈥 But in the 海角社区官网of the 1970s, their faith in their abilities ran high.
鈥淭he early 鈥70s was a time of huge, not optimism perhaps but a feeling that hey, we can do anything if we put our mind to it,鈥 Iler said.
He agreed to provide legal support, and the gaggle of young Torontonians leveraged federal funding to buy a multi-unit apartment building in Toronto鈥檚 west end 鈥 the origins of the Dufferin Grove Housing Co-operative.
While a variety of co-op models exist across the city 鈥 with some requiring residents buy into the building 鈥 the Dufferin site is among those that operate similarly to a rental, but without the traditional landlord structure. Residents become members of the co-op, giving them the autonomy to govern themselves and vote on decisions like whether to raise their housing bills.
Decades later, that structure has meant lower-than-usual housing costs for its occupants.
But building a co-op today 鈥 or even breaking into the ones that exist 鈥 has become a more uphill battle. Government funding to help with start-up costs doesn鈥檛 exist like it used to, insiders say 鈥 and existing wait-lists have stretched so long they鈥檝e had to be shut down.
That鈥檚 why some housing advocates, elected officials and co-op tenants in 海角社区官网are calling for an expansion of the sector, pitching it as a way to address soaring housing costs citywide.
In the early 70s, when Brian Iler (right) was in his 20s, he joined a team of other young Torontonians to start the Dufferin Grove Co-Op. Nowadays, the co-op offers an affordable, stable place to live to people like Claire-H茅l猫ne Heese-Boutin (left).
海角社区官网StarClaire-H茅l猫ne Heese-Boutin is one of the occupants of the Dufferin Grove site.
She pays $1,294 a month for a two-bedroom 鈥 well below market rent for that sized unit 鈥 with neighbours who鈥檒l watch her cat Wesley and access to a community garden with 鈥済orgeous plots鈥 of kale and cherry tomatoes.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just a sense of not being alone in the world,鈥 Heese-Boutin said. 鈥淵ou see the power of community, to meet each other鈥檚 needs and to support each other.鈥
Members each take on roles within the co-op structure. Hers is mowing their lawns, and she鈥檚 also sat on their decision-making board. The idea of co-ops like Dufferin Grove, she said, is to create a form of housing that is insulated from the profit motives of the regular market.
Many co-ops also offer a certain number of subsidized units for lower income Torontonians, with deals inked with various levels of government to provide supplements to pay for them.
But to build new co-ops or expand existing ones, industry players say they鈥檙e left cobbling together money from multiple programs at multiple levels of government, a process that can take years.
鈥淚 think the big difference is the other programs (in the 1970s and 1980s) were just more generous,鈥 said Tom Clement, executive director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto.
He pointed to a multi-year project underway in Riverdale, which is relying on numerous programs to renovate an existing co-op building and add 17 new units to the mix.
“The early ‘70s was a time of huge, not optimism perhaps but a feeling that hey, we can do anything if we put our mind to it,” says Brian Iler, who started the Dufferin Grove Co-op, a collection of buildings in Toronto, with friends in his 20s.
海角社区官网StarAs co-op buildings age, many are also facing a need for repairs. At Windmill Line, a 1980s co-op near St. Lawrence Market, resident and board member Laura Schein said after their last mortgage ended in 2018, they took out a new one to do 鈥渆xtensive鈥 renovations, such as replacing the roof and the roughly 200-unit building鈥檚 windows.
Still, the cost of that new mortgage is within their budget, she said.
Schein has lived at the co-op since 2011, in a two-bedroom facing the lake. She owned her own house before, but it was becoming more expensive, and at age 65, tasks such as shovelling snow were taxing. The co-op is currently costing Schein less than $1,300 per month.
The building isn鈥檛 perfect, Schein said. Few of their units are accessible to those with mobility challenges, posing an issue as residents age and use walkers or scooters.
But she loves the sense of democracy in the co-op, and seeing community efforts come together such as their recycling program. 鈥淓verybody has to work together,鈥 Schein said.
Shortly after moving in, she offered to join the welcome committee. When new residents arrived, that meant arranging a one-on-one meeting where she鈥檇 share a binder full of information about the co-op.
But there hasn鈥檛 been anyone to welcome for years, Schein said.
鈥淯nits become available when people die,鈥 she told the Star, 鈥渁nd then they鈥檙e often filled from an internal wait-list.鈥
Ghani Osman is one of the rare new residents in the building, bypassing the external application system. Osman moved into Windmill Line as a long-term guest in 2018, while a co-op member he knew was away at school. That gave him access to an internal application process, and in 2019, he became a proper co-op member and moved into his current one-bedroom.
It costs him just $1,024 per month, he said, which allows him to live downtown, while helping financially support family members living overseas.
Osman has spent the past few years on the co-op鈥檚 maintenance committee, helping residents with tasks such as hanging curtains. He savours having walkable access to grocery stores and transit, and to a nearby basketball court 鈥 all for an affordable price. And he worries that, without a wealth of similar housing options, many young Torontonians will simply leave the city.
鈥淎 lot of people that really bring culture to the city, (housing prices) are pushing them away,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 hope our city opens up more buildings like this.鈥
Heese-Boutin, like Schein, acknowledges that co-ops aren鈥檛 perfect. It can take a while to get repairs or upgrades done, she said, with longer decision-making processes.
Recently, she said Dufferin co-op wound up selling a building. Iler confirmed the sale, saying the co-op saw the costs of fixing up the aging structure as prohibitive.
鈥淚 still get very emotional about that, because I don鈥檛 think it was the right decision,鈥 Heese-Boutin said. But they鈥檇 voted to do it together, she added.
David Hulchanski, a housing expert with the University of Toronto, said he lived in a co-op himself in his younger years.
He believes creating more co-ops, depending on the depth of affordability they were able to offer occupants, could help chip away at Toronto鈥檚 demand for rent-geared-to-income housing 鈥 with a citywide wait-list of 78,791 households as of September 2021.
鈥淭he devil is in the details,鈥 he said. But he sees the model, which doesn鈥檛 require as much oversight, as positive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the best ways to go because people can manage the co-ops,鈥 he said.
Some politicians have also called for more attention on co-operative housing. When the Ontario government struck a housing affordability task force in December, with a mandate to look specifically at market-priced housing, Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner criticized the governing Progressive Conservatives for leaving options such as social and co-op housing out of focus.
Some government programs 鈥 at various levels 鈥 do offer assistance to the co-op sector. Ottawa points to programs such as its housing co-investment fund and rental construction financing initiative, as well as funds delivered through the province aimed at maintaining existing supply. Ontario, meanwhile, rolled out a renewal strategy for community housing such as co-ops in 2019.
Heese-Boutin wants to see the co-op sector grow, arguing it offers increased stability as well as more affordability.
鈥淥ur housing is our home,鈥 Heese-Boutin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not our asset.鈥
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