Homestarts Supports the You Hold the Key Campaign in Maintaining Affordable Co-op Homes

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The most serious threat to housing co-ops in Canada is the expiring operating agreements. In the coming years, 20,759 federally-funded co op households under all federal programs, representing 51,898 low-income Canadians, are at risk of being lost.

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Less than seven years from now (by 2020), most of the existing co‑op homes currently affordable for low-income residents will become unaffordable if governments across the country do not work together to protect housing affordability.

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The problem does not only threaten co‑op households. Across Canada, there are 200,000 vulnerable households (housing approximately 500,000 Canadians) in co op, non-profit and public housing whose assistance will be cut when federal operating agreements with these housing providers end.

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Canada’s governments need to take action now to keep rent-geared-to-income housing assistance in place for low-income households who will lose it after federal housing agreements end. CHF Canada has launched the ‘You Hold the Key‘ Campaign asking governments to create and fund long-term, cost-shared rent supplement programs, to be delivered by provinces and territories (and municipalities in Ontario).

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For more information please refer to CHF Canada’s You Hold the Key Resource Page.