National group of housing co-operatives positively reacts to the 2017 federal budget
The recent announcement of this year’s federal budget drew praise from a national group of housing co-operatives, which has pledged its willingness to work with the federal government in alleviating the worst impacts of the Canadian housing affordability crisis.
In a March 22 CNW press release, the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) said that it welcomed the “long-term, new investments aimed at addressing affordable housing challenges” outlined in the budget.
“Housing co-ops applaud the federal government's significant new investment in housing,” CHF Canada executive director Nicholas Gazzard said. “The lack of choice and affordability in housing for low- and moderate-income Canadians is a major issue, and housing co-ops offer a proven solution. We’re ready to partner with the federal government to leverage our successful model to create new affordable co-op homes for Canadians.”
“According to the budget, the federal government intends to preserve a baseline of funding related to these agreements so that affordability is preserved, with details to be defined this year,” CHF Canada explained in its news release.
At present, roughly a quarter million Canadians reside in housing co-operatives, with as much as 20,000 households depending on government subsidies to remain solvent.
“Existing funding programs are ending in large numbers, and CHF Canada has called on the federal government to recommit long term support starting in budget 2017 in order to protect affordability for low-income households,” CHF Canada stated.
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