CHF Canada Urges Provincial and Territorial Governments to Work with Stakeholder Groups to Protect Housing Affordability

OTTAWA, June 25, 2013 /CNW/ - The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) today urged provincial and territorial (PT) governments to help protect 21,000 households—representing approximately 52,000 low-income Canadians—in federally funded housing co-ops across the country.

"Across Canada, 200,000 households (housing approximately 500,000 Canadians) in co-op, non-profit and public housing may lose their homes when federal agreements end. CHF Canada is calling on all levels of government to protect housing affordability through cost-shared rent supplement programs delivered by PTs (and municipalities in Ontario)," said CHF Canada's Executive Director Nicholas Gazzard.

As PT housing ministers gather today in Toronto to discuss important affordable housing issues, CHF Canada encouraged all levels of government to take urgent action to prevent a worsening of the already-alarming loss of affordable housing for seniors, new Canadians, aboriginal people and persons with mental and physical disabilities.

"Co-op housing members applaud the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), including the City of Toronto which recently launched its 'Closing the Housing Gap' campaign, for insisting the senior levels of government maintain rent subsidies," concluded Gazzard.

For information on CHF Canada's campaign to protect affordability for low-income Canadians that live in affordable co-op, non-profit and public housing projects go to: www.chfcanada.coop/eoa.

CHF Canada is the national voice of the Canadian co-operative housing movement. Its members include over 900 non-profit housing co-operatives and other organizations across Canada.  More than a quarter of a million Canadians live in housing co-ops, in every province and territory.

SOURCE: Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada

Nicholas Gazzard, Executive Director, 613-293-8913, [email protected]

David Granovsky, Government Relations Co-ordinator, 1-800-465-2752 ext. 222, 613-290-7687, [email protected]