Federal Community Housing Initiative (Phase 2) Survey

Rise and Shine Fellow Co-operators.  The National Housing Strategy was released last November but it contains sections that require more design.  CMHC is asking us (the beneficiaries and administrators) how the new subsidy program should be structured.  They are asking us for input!

Grab your morning coffee and let’s dig into this together.  The National Housing Strategy contained $500 million for the Federal Community Housing Initiative (FCHI), a new rental subsidy program for community housing providers (includes co-ops) whose federally administered Operating Agreements expire between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2027. This new program is being rolled out in two phases – the first phase will extend rental subsidies to 2020, while Phase 2 will extend subsidies ($482 million) until 2028.

CMHC will be distributing a survey on FCHI Phase 2 to all co-ops with federally-administered operating agreements later today.  Check your inboxes.  This is an important opportunity for the co-op sector to have its voice heard.  To help focus the conversation a bit, CHF Canada has prepared a brief for our consideration.  The brief centres around three key issues: maintaining principle 4: Co-op Independence and Autonomy, no-net loss, that is, we should lose a single subsidized unit, and the kiss method is best; the program should be easy for the members to use and for the co-op to administer.

Please visit the National Housing Strategy Initiatives web page to learn more about the strategy.