Aach Minutes March 2008

ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING Minutes of Meeting Thursday, March 13, 2008, 7:00 p.m. Recreation Room, Windmill Line Co-op, Toronto PRESENT: Donald Altman (Church-Isabella; chairing), Barbara Czarnecki (Windmill Line; recording), Brian Eng (CHFT), Beth Wilson (Toronto Women’s), Ronny Yaron (Woodsworth) REGRETS: Murtaza Dogo (Eamon Park), Maureen Foy (Stanley Knowles), Marilyn Garner (Three Links), Corrie Galloway (Windward), Joyce McEwan (Caroline), Patrick Newman (Cardiff), Edward Nixon (Windmill Line), Jerry Reitsma (Ann Marie Hill), Brynne Teall (Oak Street), Sharyn Wallace (Innisfree), Jennifer Watkins (Cawthra Mansions) 1.

Introductions

2. Adopt agenda By consensus. 3. Minutes of January 8, 2008 Minutes of January 8 should say Tuesday, not Wednesday. A meeting scheduled for February 12 was cancelled, and no minutes were taken at a small meeting on February 25. 4. Updates — federal by-election meet-and-greets: The two events, at Bleecker Street and Windmill Line, went well. About sixty people in total attended. The format of candidates coming one at a time rather than all together allowed for broader discussions. Candidates could go beyond their basic talking points, and audience members were clearly engaged and listening. Brian’s report to the CHFT board will be sent with these minutes. — “existing tools/additional assistance” letter: Brian distributed a draft letter for the federal housing minister, Monte Solberg. The aim is to advise the minister that, despite some earlier assurances, no program exists that will give co-ops more funds specifically to make up for subsidy cuts. Brian is to coordinate with the co-ops that requested funds and were refused. — meeting with George Smitherman: Beth, Barbara, and Gaye Hachie and Carrol Downey of Toronto Women’s met with Smitherman the afternoon of the AACH meeting. The Toronto Women’s delegation took the opportunity to thank Smitherman for his help in securing an enhanced assistance package for the co-op last year; they pointed out the flaws

AACH Minutes, March 13, 2008

but explained how it had helped. Smitherman was not enthusiastic about the OCHAP/CSHP idea but said he would write to Minister Jim Watson if we would supply figures. He wanted estimates of how much housing could be opened up by increasing funding to these programs. He asked about the possibility of using vacant co-op units for people with mental illness, through a Ministry of Health program; he asked a policy adviser, Jennifer Morris, to follow up. Brian will get figures for co-ops and co-op units; Beth will phone around for vacancy rates in Toronto Centre; Barbara will ask Scarborough co-ops to count their current vacancies. — Ontario poverty reduction strategy: Smitherman said the focus of the cabinet poverty task force would be on children, with a child tax benefit probably the biggest component. He said he would write to Deb Matthews to urge the task force to consider housing as a factor in poverty. Barbara reported that Harvey Cooper of CHF Canada was keeping an eye on the cabinet initiative and looking for opportunities to make a submission. Harvey also referred to the 25 in 5 initiative, a coalition of social policy groups. Beth is involved in a forum being organized by 25 in 5 on April 14 at Queen’s Park; she will keep us informed. — CHF Canada action on RGI subsidies: Items from CHF Canada were distributed: a lobbying update, press releases, and a proposal sent 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 that this proposal is being revised for use with candidates in the next election. 5. Current Projects — Ontario RGI campaign: Brian reported that this lobby campaign is on hold. The report of the upload review is not expected until June, and there is a new minister of housing in Ontario to be brought up to speed. — lobbying federal MPs and candidates: CHF Canada met with Patrick Brown, Tory MP for Barrie. Brown had been well educated on co-op issues by Three Links Co-op. He said he would write to Minister Solberg about subsidy cuts. We can lobby the many nominated candidates of all parties, focusing on target ridings identified for previous elections. Brian will provide a list of candidates. Unfortunately for AACH, Brian will not be able to organize meetings with candidates because he is leaving CHFT. Members congratulated him on his new position with the Wellesley Institute.

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AACH Minutes, March 13, 2008

6. CHF AGM — AACH meeting: Nick Sidor has allocated a meeting room for an AACH gathering on Thursday, June 12, at lunch. Barbara will ask whether co-op members not registered for the conference can attend. We will need to agree on a rough agenda for the meeting and prepare a flyer for the registration mailout by mid-April. — networking lunch topic: People who attended last year’s networking lunch have been asked to suggest topics for this year’s. No one had an “AACH topic” to suggest. — resolutions: Ann Marie Hill: Jerry Reitsma of Ann Marie Hill brought to the February AACH meeting a resolution about the difficulties of co-ops in high-vacancy areas: they can’t offer subsidy to fill units, and their revenues are hurt by the vacancies, making it more difficult to maintain the properties and attract new members. Jerry was not present to report on discussions with CHF Canada about the final wording. 7. AACH business — revising our “mandate”: This is it: “The Alliance for Affordable Co-operative 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 lobbies governments at all levels to fulfill their responsibilities to low-income Canadians by fully funding existing subsidy programs and developing new forms of subsidy to replace operating agreements as they expire.” — financial statement: No change. 8. Task list — 18: Smitherman meeting — done. 9. New business Beth reported that her research project on co-op housing for the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto is going ahead. The purpose is to document trends in affordable housing in co-ops, looking at indicators such as level of RGI assistance. She will investigate the potential to create more RGI capacity within existing co-op stock, and eventually building new units and infill. Donald offered to serve on the project advisory committee. Beth will be asking AACH members to participate in various ways. 10. Not to be forgotten — treating internal subsidy as charitable contribution — contacting non-housing co-operatives and other allies

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AACH Minutes, March 13, 2008

— media strategy — connecting with other housing advocacy organizations 11. Set next meeting date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, Sunroom, Windmill Line Co-op 12.

Adjourned at 9:25 p.m.

Task List – as of March 13, 2008 Date

Item # 29

July 31/07 Nov 30 14/07 Mar 33 15/07 Jan 8/08 37 Sep 11/07

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

TASK 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.

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Target Date