Aach Minutes May 2008

ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING Minutes of Meeting Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 7:00 p.m. Sunroom, Windmill Line Co-op, Toronto PRESENT: Donald Altman (Church-Isabella; chairing), Bridget Bayliss (Windmill Line), Tom Clement (CHFT), Barbara Czarnecki (Windmill Line; recording), Brian Eng (Oak Street, Wellesley Institute), Maureen Foy (Stanley Knowles), Corrie Galloway (Windward), Christine Mounsteven (Charles Hastings), Nick Sidor (CHF Canada), Brynne Teall (Oak Street), Beth Wilson (Toronto Women’s) REGRETS: David Granovsky (CHF Canada), Darlene Morris (Tannery Gate), Edward Nixon (Windmill Line), Jerry Reitsma (Ann Marie Hill) 1.

Introductions

2. Adopt agenda Added to 4, Updates: Toronto affordable housing initiative. 3. Minutes of April 9, 2008 Agreed by consensus. 4. Updates — politicians at AGM: Nick said that Harvey Cooper has invited all area MPPs and Toronto councillors. Mario Sergio will represent Jim Watson, Ontario minister of housing. CHF Canada has invited federal MPs. The federal minister, Monte Solberg, declined. — “existing tools/additional assistance” letter: Nick confirmed that no response has yet been received to the letters sent to Solberg by co-ops, and he does not expect much. — Toronto affordable housing initiative: The city is holding consultations and deputation meetings on Housing Opportunities Toronto, a 10-year plan for affordable housing. The framework document has a passing reference to co-ops. For more information: http://www.toronto.ca/affordablehousing/hot.htm Deputations can be made at City Hall on Monday, June 16. Brynne will register; she, Corrie, and Christine will work on a presentation. Tom said that CHFT will also make a deputation. Beth reported that the Social Planning Council is conducting community consultations on the plan, including one on May 26. She will send a schedule.

AACH Minutes, May 13, 2008

5. Current projects — numbers for Smitherman: CHFT is collecting data on vacancies. Tom said he decided to expand the project beyond Scarborough; he has sent an email to all member co-ops. It could take two or three weeks to assemble the numbers. Beth sent Smitherman a letter to say we were working on the vacancy statistics he asked for. — lobbying MPs and candidates in target ridings: Nick reported on recent lobbying by CHF Canada staff. They have been targeting two Commons committees: Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) and Finance (FINA). CHF Canada continues to work with Canadian Housing Renewal Association, Toronto Community Housing Corporation, and Federation of Canadian Municipalities. FCM is now taking a leading role in collective action on housing: this is a big step forward, because FCM has lots of staff, and all its committees are led by elected politicians. Minister Solberg testified at HUMA and was asked two questions about S95 (by Judy Sgro and Tony Martin), but didn’t answer well on any housing questions. This suggests the government has no plans at all to act on housing. Solberg’s staff wants another briefing on S95, but at cabinet level, there’s no interest. To get interest, we have to make housing an issue by building broad advocacy coalitions including boards of trade, tourism authorities, and anyone else who recognizes the need for housing. A housing summit is being planned for October in Ottawa, to coincide with the federal-provincial housing ministers’ meeting. Nick was asked what CHF Canada is doing to get co-ops into the media. He said David Granovsky is pushing hard for more media appearances. Brian spoke about getting commitments from politicians before an election campaign begins. Tom reported on his list of target ridings to work on: Scarborough-Rouge River (Derek Lee/Bas Balkissoon); Toronto Centre (Bob Rae/George Smitherman); Beaches-East York (Maria Minna/Michael Prue); Scarborough Southwest (Tom Wappel); Etobicoke-Lakeshore (Michael Ignatieff); Toronto Danforth (Jack Layton/Peter Tabuns); York Southwest (Alan Tonks); Trinity-Spadina (Olivia Chow). — Liberal Party platform development: Bob Rae is in charge of it. CHF Canada and CHFT have a meeting with him on Tuesday, May 20; Beth will attend. 6. CHF Canada AGM — AACH meeting agenda (Thursday, June 12, 12:15 p.m., Dockside 6): Donald will chair. The first item, after welcome and introductions, will be the Toronto Women’s assistance package: five to ten minutes on the good and the bad. Beth or others from Toronto Women’s will speak and take questions. Second, we hope to have a speaker from one of the BC co-ops that are out of their agreements. Tom has asked Thom Armstrong to find someone.

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AACH Minutes, May 13, 2008

The rest of the time will be for co-op delegates or staff to talk about what they are experiencing or their ideas for political action. The housing summit in October can be announced. Although grassroots action is not currently part of the plan, as envisioned by the summit coalition, coops might want to organize their own activities around it. The next AACH meeting will discuss what we can do around the summit: one possibility is to build a house on Dundas Square out of reports on homelessness. Brian will start compiling a list of reports. — create handout on current lobby initiatives: Nick had supplied the current version of the options paper that CHF Canada is using in meetings with MPs. Brian noted that the two parts of the “ask” should not be called “step 1” and “step 2” because the term makes it seem as if one must happen before the other; if anything, it’s the other way around, but the sequence is unimportant. Barbara will draft and circulate a one-page handout for the June 12 meeting: what you can do when you get home (look into additional assistance, find out when your agreement expires, find out about the addendum for your next rollover, etc.). Nick will make the options paper available in its latest version. — resolutions meetings: May 14 at the Y, May 21 at W.L. Mackenzie. — late resolution: “Federal Action on Canada’s Affordable Housing Shortage” The group generally approved of this new resolution. — workshops: Barbara is attending workshop 206. 7.

AACH business: the financial statement is unchanged.

8. Task list — item 30: Tom is working with the Agency on a session in the fall to explain the Agency’s assistance “toolkit” to co-op staff. — item 42: Brian explained that the group had discussed meeting with the Star editorial board in the run-up to the June AGM. Nick will take over this item. 9. 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 10. Next meetings: Thursday, June 12, 12:15 p.m., at the CHF Canada AGM (Dockside 6). Thursday, July 3, 7:00 p.m., Windmill Line. On the agenda: actions to mark the housing summit in October.

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AACH Minutes, May 13, 2008

11.

Adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

Task List – as of May 13, 2008 Date

Item # Apr 9/08 29

Who Assigned Tom

May 30 13/08 Mar 33 15/07 Jan 8/08 37

Tom

May 13/08

42

Barbara Corrie/ Christine Nick Sidor

TASK

Target Date

Talk to Homestarts about S95. CHFT workshop/discussion group for staff about the Agency’s toolkit. Collect economic eviction instances. Call co-ops with 2007 and 2008 rollovers. Look into meeting with editorial board of Tor Star to link with AGM.

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Fall 2008