There is a housing crisis in Canada, but it does not affect me, because I live in a co-op. I’ve said it before, but we are extremely lucky to live where we do. The housing crisis in Canada is forcing people to pay extreme increases in rent, sell their homes, or not be able to afford housing at all.

Most people either have never heard of a housing co-op, or have the wrong idea of what a co-op is, so I wanted to share some more information.

What is a co-op?

A housing co-op is a form of affordable (not low income) housing where the members (tenants) of the co-op do not have a landlord, but instead make decisions through voting, and committee membership. Most co-ops are non-profit, and any rent paid, goes right back into the co-op for maintenance of the units.

Most co-ops that exist now were created in the 80s, and many towns and cities in Canada have co-op housing- it’s just not widely known or talked about.

A co-op can either be a large building with apartment/condo units, or a community of townhouse or duplexes.

If you’ve seen the show “Only Murders In The Building” (one of our favourites), you know that the Arconia is a co-op. There are episodes where the members have meetings in the lobby to vote on various Arconia related topics.

What is the difference between affordable and low income housing?

Affordable housing is just what it sounds like- housing that is affordable. You do not need to be low income to live in a co-op. In fact, in order to move into our co-op, we had to show proof of income (and a criminal record check). Members of a co-op CAN be low income, or they can make 6 figures- as long as they can afford to pay the rent, it doesn’t matter.

Co-ops allow anyone, regardless of income to enjoy housing security without being “house poor.”

How did I come to live here?

We lucked into our townhouse, and during these crazy times, I am more thankful than ever that we did. In late 2014, I was living in an apartment with my ex husband and 8 month old son. We were paying $850 to rent a 2 bedroom apartment (which would be considered super cheap these days). It was a nice apartment, but the building had coin-op laundry, and our storage room was quickly becoming full of baby supplies. In short, we were outgrowing the space, and longed for something bigger.

I was on a local mom group, when a mom asked about the cost of coin op laundry in different buildings. I commented about our building, and received a message from a member of the local townhouse co-op. She told me that there was a townhouse unit available for rent, and it had a washer and dryer included. It was the middle of winter, and they had gone down their wait list of people who had their names down for units, but nobody wanted to move in the middle of winter, so it was still available.

We went for a tour of the unit, and completely fell in love with the space. It had a really unique layout- 4 half levels, and a 2 level basement. Most of the rooms had laminate flooring, with tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. The townhouse was a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit, with a washer and dryer included in the upstairs bathroom. It was $675 per month.

We broke our lease at our old apartment, and moved in that February. When my husband and I separated in 2020, he was able to do a transfer into another available townhouse. This is ideal for us, because he is really close by for our son to visit between our homes.

Kris moved in with us in 2021, and the membership committee voted him in, officially making him a member of the co-op.

Since the housing crisis, and more people searching for affordable housing (and less existing tenants moving), the wait list to get a unit has increased to around 7+ years. I always tell people that its better to have your name on the list than to not. You never know how many people above you on the list will have found other housing by then, and you never know where you will be in 7+ years when one does become available for you.

Our co-op is also in a nice part of town, in a great school district, close to parks and pools, and tennis courts. We feel really lucky to have the opportunity to live here.

What upgrades have been done since we moved in?

The amazing thing about a co-op is that all money paid in rent goes right back into the co-op. All of the members are also living there, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to maintain the property as best as we can.

This means that, whenever an upgrade is needed to the units, it’s completed as soon as possible, based on that year’s budget and priority of the project.

Since moving in, we have had the following upgrades done and paid for by the co-op:

Installed laminate flooring for all remaining carpeted floors in the house
Installed new bath tub/shower in upstairs bathroom
Re-did siding on outside of house
New roof
Re-did the drain tile around house
Some outlets and thermostats replaced as needed
They also keep up with safety items- such as new smoke alarms and fire extinguishers when needed.

We are also getting all new appliances this year, which we are VERY excited for! This includes a new washer & dryer, and fridge and stove. They also allow us to do any minor rennovations we want such as painting, and we recently got approval to paint the outdated kitchen cabinets, so we are in the middle of giving them a fusion mineral paint makeover now.

Since moving in, we have painted almost every room in the house (some more than once), and we’ve really been able to make this into a space that we love.

What are the committees for?

Co-ops are run by the members who live there (the tenants), and vote on everything through meetings. There are committees for everything, such as:

Membership
Pet Committee
Maintenance
Social
Finance, etc

We have meetings a few times a year, or as needed, to vote on topics that effect the community, such as:

Maintenance that needs to be done (ex: voting on putting in new roofs, etc)
Parking situations
The annual budget
Any member complaints
Member ideas (ex: should we add a community garden, etc)

Our meeting used to be in person, but since the pandemic, have switched to virtual. I really enjoy attending the meetings, because it gives us insight and information on what’s going to be happening in the co-op that season, and where the money is going.

Do we ever have rent increases?

Since moving into the co-op 9 years ago, our rent has only increased by $5, and it was voted on by the members. In the last couple of years, the mortgages have completely been paid off for our co-op, so a rent increase is highly unlikely.

What other kinds of co-ops are there?

I mentioned briefly above that there are many different types of co-op housing. We happen to live in a townhouse community- we do not share our unit with anyone else, the entire townhouse is ours.

Some co-ops however are shared spaces. For example, in larger cities, it’s common for co-ops to be shared buildings, where each member has their own bedroom (and sometimes bathroom), but common spaces (kitchen, living rooms, game rooms, etc) are shared.

If you search for co-op housing on TikTok, many of the videos that come up are about these type of shared living spaces. The members take turns with cleaning and cooking duties, and they have supply closets with shared household supplies. These co-ops are great for students, or single people, and tend to have a higher turn over rate, as most people don’t intend to live in a dorm-style building long term.

In our co-op, most people love it so much that their adult children end up staying, even after the parents have bought their own house, or outgrown the space. Some adult children even transfer to their own units once they start families of their own. Personally, we plan on living here until we buy a house someday, and in today’s economy, that probably wont be any time soon.

Regardless of what kind of co-op you live in, it’s a great experience, and gives you a real sense of community.

Questions?

If you have any questions about co-op living, let me know in the comments, and I’ll answer them as soon as possible!

We Pay $680 Per Month For A 3 Bedroom 2 Bathroom Townhouse | All About Co-Op Housing