CO-OP
FOUNDATIONS

A group of co-ops in Vancouver have taken that planning to a whole new level, baking the “co-operation among co-operatives” principle into the process to ensure their members are prepared not only at the individual level but that the co-ops can also provide support and mutual aid within their network.

The six co-ops – Paloma, Laura Jamieson, Sitka, Rising Star, Sunrise and Westerdale – joined forces to create the East Vancouver Joint Co-op Emergency and Resilience Planning Project, publishing the results of several years of hard work on their website earlier this year to serve as a template for other co-ops to build their own plans.

“We have these six co-ops within a five-block radius and to me that was a tremendous amount of capacity within very close proximity, which makes supporting each other much more doable from a logistical angle,” said Ian Marcuse, a Paloma Housing Co-op member who spearheaded the multi-year project.

“There’s a lot of strengths and assets, a lot of opportunity in co-ops. Co-ops are already well-organized, we...

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CHF BC (and COHO) CEO Thom Armstrong emceed the short—but impactful—program. Attendees heard from COHO’s Executive Director Halina Kuras, CHF BC’s president Suzanne Zimmering. Catherine Porter, a former CHF BC president and member of long-time COHO client Pine Ridge Housing Co-operative also said a few words. COHO’s first president David Lach, founding director Merrilee Robson, and CHF Canada’s president Cassia Kantrow were among the honored guests.

After the speeches, attendees spent the evening sampling fine food and beverages while enjoying great company.

Audacious Beginnings

COHO was established as a non-profit co-operative management company in 1984 to meet the specific needs of co-op housing management that existing property management companies were not addressing.

At that time, CHF BC was only two years old and still finding its way as a newly minted regional federation of housing co-operatives. What we lacked in experience was more than compensated by visionary leaders unconstrained by w...

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On June 20^th, Olga Riabova was the first member to move into the new co-op at the corner of Fraser and East 19^th Avenue in Vancouver. The North Arm Senior’s Housing Co-operative includes 58 homes for seniors aged 55 and up, and a partnership with the 411 Seniors Centre Society means there will soon be a seniors’ centre on the ground floor that will include a commercial kitchen, multi-purpose space and office space.

A month after moving in and the excitement hasn’t worn off for the 63-year-old Riabova.

“It’s fantastic!” she said. “It was just like a firework in my life.”

Before her move to North Arm, Riabova had been living in a one-bedroom apartment in an older Metrotown building. She loved the location, but was growing concerned as the demolition of affordable, older buildings in Metrotown crept ever closer to her home.

She had been diligently renewing her applications for non-profit and co-op housing for over 15 years and was starting to think that it would never happen.

“I’m a single person and for a l...

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From a young age, KC had been drawn to the concept of cooperation. They marveled at how individuals with unique talents and skills could come together to create something truly remarkable. As they explored the nooks and crannies of the Hundred Acre Wood, KC observed animals working side by side, collaborating, and sharing their resources. It was then that they decided to become an active member of the forest’s cooperative community.

KC joined the Hundred Acre Wood Co-op, an organization where animals worked together to support and uplift one another. The Co-op was a hub of collaboration and shared goals. Every member had a role to play, and KC eagerly embraced their responsibilities. Their love for hard work and dedication quickly made them a beloved figure among their fellow forest dwellers.

In the mornings, KC would wake up early, energized and ready to tackle the day’s tasks. They would make their way to the bustling communal garden, where everyone worked together to grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers. KC had a green paw, and their talent for gardeni...

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Mänia Hormozi joined the Community Land Trust (CLT) in March 2023, bringing more than a decade of experience in the development sector to her role. She was introduced to the community housing sector in 2011 when she joined a boutique developer building the first affordable home ownership project in the Downtown Eastside at 100 East Hastings St., in partnership with BC Housing and CMHC.

“I discovered I had a good knack for problem solving, getting right into the challenges to find a way out, and bringing people together to move things along,” Hormozi shared in a recent conversation.

Over the next seven years she worked as a development management consultant with a range of non-profits before joining BC Housing in 2018 as a senior project officer. Hormozi helped to usher in the modular housing boom, and then expanded her portfolio when the Housing Hub was created five years ago.

She worked closely with CLT in 2022 on the groundbreaking partnership between BC Housing, the City of Burnaby and CLT to purchase and preserve 425 units of co-op ho...

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I have lived in my co-op since I was three years old; I know my neighbors intimately, for they are made up of my family members and lifelong family friends. Although we have all lived vastly different lives, coming from all combinations of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, we are united by our need for this community. We all feel the weight of financial uncertainty and hold immense gratitude for the opportunity we have to find affordable homes in a safe, friendly neighborhood.

The truth is that our society is rampant with systemic oppression, prejudice, and inequity. This drastically affects some groups more than others on a basis of privilege, such as individuals who are visible minorities, people with disabilities, and those with discriminated-against religions. In an area so diverse with individuals in all of the above groups, my own mother being physically disabled, my own relatives facing Islamophobia; I understand the nuanced ways in which adversity and financial wellbeing are interlocked. The majority of us in our co-op have specific, overlapping circumstances that pr...

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The quote from Margaret Mead “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has” was one of the motivating factors for my husband and I to join Tyee Housing Co-operative. I believe that a housing co-op should reflect the community we want to see which can lead to far reaching impacts in the greater community. Including and valuing the voices that have previously not been heard helps our co-op communities expand and implement the important aspects of growth which is so crucial to our success.

Something that motivates me, both in working in the midwifery model of care but also in accessing the benefits of co-operative housing, is that they both acknowledge not only one aspect of life. They value that everyone has lived experience, and that growth throughout someone’s life builds and becomes a wealth of knowledge.

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Housing co-operatives are invested in creating a community with strong relationships between neighbors and in working together to manage our co-op. Our diverse co-op members all have equal decision making power on how our community and homes are governed. For example, I recommended that someone does a land acknowledgement before every general and board meeting. My suggestion was welcomed and now before every meeting we acknowledge the privilege we have to come together on unceded lands.

All of the diverse co-op members’ opinions and principles are equally valued and heard within our community, which makes housing co-operatives distinct compared to public housing. Overall, housing co-operatives are leaders in creating safe communities that honor different cultural backgrounds and practices as well as in fostering harmonious relationships between diverse people.

Numerous tenants volunteered to regularly sanitize our buildings so that we could keep everyone safe. We made a point to actively check in on each other, especially our elder tenants, to ensure that every...

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For author Harrison Mooney, the experience was filled with confusion and disconnectedness. He spent his life feeling simultaneously singled out and invisible in a family and church community that fervently ignored his Blackness and dismissed both his encounters with racism and his efforts to articulate his struggles.

In his powerful memoir, Invisible Boy, Mooney explores the experience of transracial adoption from the perspective of families that are torn apart, and children stripped of their culture, to fill evangelical communities’ demands for babies. It is a deeply personal tale of a Black coming-of-age nar...

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Moving at a blistering pace, the kids’ social sub-committee has already been created, established voting rules, created a leadership structure, discussed budget concerns, and planned and executed their first event. No surprise that the December “random party” was a wild success, delivering lessons in democratic participation, co-operation, and even the limits of pizza and candy consumption.

Social committee chair Ken Inaba said the new sub-committee started as a bit of a joke as he was chatting with a youngster who had bold ideas about how the Burnaby co-op’s social events should be planned.

“He likes to make different suggestions,” Inaba said with a smile. “We were planning our Halloween events and he’d say, ‘No, you should do it like this – if you had the table set up like this, you could have the candy set up like that.’”

Spotting the budding potential of a future events planner, Inaba seized the opportunity to encourage some pint-sized co-op involvement. He raised the possibility in conversations with fellow board members, ...

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