Cooperative housing provides a way out of the rental market

Many Montrealers are being priced out of the housing market. But home ownership and renting is interconnected – as rising rents are causing people to put more of their paycheque towards their rent, meaning less can go for saving for a downpayment. As a result, many are getting stuck in the rental market.

Can revolutionizing our public housing market be a better way to provide housing? Local 514 spoke with Guillaume Hébert, a researcher from L’Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS) based in Montreal. 

Hébert said community housing and cooperative housing are a way to provide equal access to housing. He said there was a strong movement for both cooperative and community housing in the 1970's and 1980's, as many wanted to get out of rental market.

Hébert said cooperatives are a hybrid of renting and owning. He said everyone in a housing cooperative has to share the decision and cost. Hébert said it ends up to be very cheap way of living and to be able live outside of the rental market.

Co-operative housing is a non-equity model, allowing for people to afford housing in a model not based on financial gain. 

Housing co-operatives are a middle ground between renting and owning. Coops provide legal protection against forced eviction, there are no landlords or tenants, no need to make a down payment, no rent or mortgage. Most co-ops cannot be sold, and they offer a much cheaper option compared to housing on the rental or permanent housing market. 

Co-ops offer collective ownership, with all those living in the co-op responsible for maintaining the exterior. Costs are calculated to cover monthly housing fees, NOT to make a profit.

But little co-op housing has been built in Canada since the 1990s. More than 50,000 people reside in cooperative housing. With almost 1,200 co-operatives province-wide, Quebec has the highest number of co-ops in Canada. 

Hébert says housing shows divide a in class, as the rich are only able to afford homes and those who are poorer have to be locked into rental market or social housing, which is limited under the provincial CAQ government.