Aach Minutes January 2008

ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING Minutes of Meeting Wednesday, January 8, 2008, 7:00 p.m. Sunroom, Windmill Line Co-op, Toronto PRESENT: Donald Altman (Church-Isabella; chairing), Barbara Czarnecki (Windmill Line; recording), Maureen Foy (Stanley Knowles), Corrie Galloway (Windward), Beth Wilson (Toronto Women’s) REGRETS: Tom Clement (CHFT), Angela Cowie (Hugh Garner), Marie Dickey (Peter Secor), Murtaza Dogo (Eamon Park), Brian Eng (CHFT), Marilyn Garner (Three Links), Joyce McEwan (Caroline), Christine Mounsteven (Charles Hastings), Patrick Newman (Cardiff), Jerry Reitsma (Ann Marie Hill), Trevor Studden (W.L. Mackenzie), Brynne Teall (Oak Street), Sharyn Wallace (Innisfree) 1.

Introductions

2. Adopt agenda By consensus. 3. Minutes of November 14, 2007 Agreed by consensus. 4. Updates — 2007 rollovers: Corrie has completed her calls to co-ops that had mortgage rollovers in 2007; she reported that Christine is still following up with other co-ops. So far only Arcadia Co-op, among those responding, has decided not to sign the “dollar-fordollar” addendum. — Ontario upload campaign: Brian reported through Barbara that the provincial review committee considering uploading social services is still expected to report in early February. CHFT and CHF-OR staff continue to seek support for uploading co-op costs to the province and co-op administration to the Agency for Co-operative Housing. Donald drew members’ attention to a recent City of Toronto staff report called “Tied in Knots: Unlocking the Potential of Social Housing Communities in Toronto.” It endorses uploading social housing costs and calls for other measures to strengthen the sector. It can be read at — CHF/CHFT letter to minister about “additional assistance”: No update was available. But it was noted that CHF Canada has recently delivered a proposal to the minister (see next item) that may contain mention of our dealings with CMHC over the non-availability of “additional assistance.”

AACH Minutes, January 8, 2008

— CHF Canada action on RGI subsidies/last year’s AGM resolution: As reported in CHFT’s Focus e-newsletter, CHF Canada has presented a proposal to officials of HRSDC calling for continuation of RGI subsidies beyond the end of operating agreements and increased funding of current subsidy programs. Brian reported through Barbara that this proposal is being followed up with staff lobbying of friendly Tories. Resolution #3 at the 2007 AGM called for CHF Canada to lobby governments on this issue and report to members by December 31, 2007. The new proposal appears to respond to the resolution, although the account in Focus does not draw a line between the two. We decided to wait for further bulletins from CHF Canada before asking for the year-end report. [Note from Barbara, January 18: The report is part of an extensive roundup on political initiatives on chfc.ca. Click “Section 95 co-ops” under “Government Relations” on the home page.] — meeting with George Smitherman: Beth reported that she has made another request for a meeting with the MPP for Toronto Centre and is waiting for a reply. Brian had earlier told the group that Smitherman expressed interest in co-op current issues during the fall election campaign. Corrie suggested reminding Smitherman, who is the minister of health, that housing is a key social determinant of health. Maureen noted that the Ontario cabinet has established a poverty task force, and Smitherman is co-chair. Co-ops should be seeking input. Barbara will ask Brian whether he knows about any CHFT contacts with the task force. 5. Strategy — Ontario RGI campaign: Brian reported through Barbara that CHFT and CHF-OR still plan to launch the lobby campaign once the upload review is completed, in early February. — CHF AGM: Barbara will ask Nick Sidor to allocate a meeting room for an AACH gathering, as in previous years, and to put notices of the event in AGM material. Noting that 2020 Vision was a main focus of last year’s AGM, members wondered again when the full toolkit would be available to co-ops. Maureen said that Anita Millar’s workshop for Stanley Knowles Co-op on end-of-agreement issues might become a CHFT workshop for staff. Corrie said Tom Clement had announced at a CHFT meeting that 2020 Vision facilitators were being trained. Barbara shared some information that Nicholas Gazzard had sent her in response to a request in her capacity as president of Windmill Line. In 2007, AACH had a role in drafting resolution #3 and in amending resolution #2. If we have any new resolutions to propose for 2008, for either the national or the Ontario AGM, the time is now. Send any ideas to [email protected] for distribution in advance of the February meeting.

AACH Minutes, January 8, 2008

— Church-Isabella resolution: Church-Isabella Co-op is already circulating its resolution on revitalizing the coop housing movement. The resolution arises from the conviction that growth is necessary to vitality. It has been distributed to the AACH email list and is posted on the Yahoo Group site. Co-ops are encouraged to endorse the resolution. Barbara will confirm the process and the deadlines with CHF Canada. 6. AACH business — revising our “mandate”: Barbara presented this draft for discussion: “The Alliance for Affordable Cooperative Housing brings together co-op members and staff from across Canada to work for the restoration and continuation of rent-geared-to-income subsidies. AACH pressures governments at all levels to fulfill their responsibilities to lowincome Canadians by fully funding existing subsidy programs and developing new forms of subsidy to replace operating agreements as they expire.” The group supported the fairly narrow focus of this draft because it gives AACH specific direction and does not step on the toes of other groups. We discussed whether tweaking was necessary to account for the possibility that current operating agreements could be extended, if the CHF Canada initiative succeeds. No smooth way to reword for this purpose came to mind. Comments will be invited by email and on the Yahoo Group site. — new email address: The email address for AACH is now [email protected]. The former address ([email protected]) no longer works because its host has gone out of operation. Members thanked Windmill Line Co-op for contributing the new address. — Yahoo Group/website: Some members have had difficulty signing up. Barbara invited members to contact her at [email protected] for assistance. All members are encouraged to join at ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/AACH. Once we get the bugs out, the site should allow members to communicate with one another between meetings and find useful information easily. The website files have been stored. — financial statement: no change since the last statement. 7. Task list — 18: As noted above, Beth has joined Brian in asking for a meeting. — 29: Barbara will talk to Tom. — 30: As noted above, Maureen said Anita Millar is talking to CHFT. — 33: No progress to report. — 37: Corrie and Christine continue to make calls.

AACH Minutes, January 8, 2008

8. Not to be forgotten — treating internal subsidy as charitable contribution — contacting non-housing co-operatives and other allies — media strategy — connecting with other housing advocacy organizations — co-op profiles: On this topic, the group noted that the valuable material contributed by a member at Three Streets in Barrie has not yet been put to use. Barrie has a Conservative MP. 8a. New business — brochure: Beth noted that we have no AACH handouts with up-to-date information. This item will be placed on the next agenda. — research on co-ops: Beth described a possible research project on co-op housing at her workplace, the Community Social Planning Council. She will report further on how co-ops might participate. 9. Set next meeting date: Tuesday, February 12, 2008, Sunroom, Windmill Line Co-op 10.

Adjourned at 9:10 p.m.

Task List – as of Jan 8, 2008 Date Nov 14/07 July 31/07 Nov 14/07 Mar 15/07 Jan 8/08 Sep 11/07

Item # 18 29 30 33 37 42

Who Assigned Beth/ Brian Tom/ Barbara Tom/ Maureen Barbara Corrie/ Christine Brian

TASK Ask for another Smitherman meeting. Talk to principals of management companies about S95. CHFT workshop for staff about S95. Collect eviction instances. Call co-ops with 2007 and 2008 rollovers. Follow up on meeting with Tor Star editorial board.

Target Date