CHF BC’s executive director, Thom Armstrong, spoke at a media conference today in Vancouver to launch the Canadian Rental Housing Coalition Charter.  CHF BC is a founding member of the Coalition, which is a partnership of industry, non-profit and government leaders with a stake in the supply of affordable rental housing.The Coalition calls on all levels of government, the private sector and the co-op and not-for profit sectors to work together to address Canada’s desperate shortage of affordable rental housing. The founders plan to expand the Coalition on a national scale to advocate for the Charter’s nine goals.”We are delighted to be partners in this effort to create more affordable housing in BC and across Canada,” said Armstrong.  “Housing co-ops are proud of their 40-year track record of building safe, secure, affordable housing in member-owned communities.  We would like to continue that tradition by building more new co-ops, and the solutions advocated by the Coalition will help to make that possible.”In addition to CHF BC, the members of the Coalition include Metro Vancouver Housing, Urban Development Institute, BC Apartment Owners and Managers Association, BC Non-Profit Housing Association, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Canadian Home Builders’ Association of BC, Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, Vancity, and Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre (TRAC).The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) has also endorsed the Coalition’s charter. Photo: In back row: (L to R): Marg Gordon, Executive Director, BC Apartment Owners and Managers Association, Nicky Dunlop, Executive Director, TRAC Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre, Peter Simpson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, Thom Armstrong, Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, Andrew Broderick, Vice-President, Community Investment Vancity. Seated in front (L to R): Maureen Enser, Executive Director, Urban Development Institute, Mayor Wayne Wright (New Westminster), Chair, Metro Vancouver Housing Committee.