Is co-op housing making a comeback in Toronto?

New city housing development will include more than 600 co-op units for the first time in decades

CBC.ca
Feb. 9, 2024
Talia Ricci

Is co-op housing making a comeback?

The city has been making moves toward building one of the largest affordable housing projects in decades.

The Scarborough development at 2444 Eglinton Ave. E. will include over 600 co-op units, marking the first time in years that that many co-op homes are being built.

Most co-ops in Canada are registered as not-for-profit corporations. The way it works is members jointly own and manage the building they live in, and the monthly housing charges are designed to cover expenses with surpluses reinvested into the co-op.

The members do not build equity in their housing. If they move, their home is offered to another household.

The monthly costs are often far more affordable than market rent.

According to the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada), most of the housing co-ops were developed between the 1970s and 1990s.

So what happened between the 1990s and today?

CHF Canada says federal and provincial funding to create and operate these buildings slowed down. Then the housing market exploded, and our population grew.

Now the housing crisis, fueled by lack of supply, has co-op buildings back on all levels of government's radar -- and experts looking at what role co-ops might be able to play in solving the crisis.