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ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING
Minutes of MeetingWednesday, January 8, 2008, 7:00 p.m.Sunroom, Windmill Line Co-op, Toronto
PRESENT:
Donald Altman (Church-Isabella; chairing), Barbara Czarnecki(Windmill Line; recording), Maureen Foy (Stanley Knowles), Corrie Galloway(Windward), Beth Wilson (Toronto Women’s) 
REGRETS:
Tom Clement (CHFT), Angela Cowie (Hugh Garner), Marie Dickey(Peter Secor), Murtaza Dogo (Eamon Park), Brian Eng (CHFT), Marilyn Garner (Three Links), Joyce McEwan (Caroline), Christine Mounsteven (CharlesHastings), Patrick Newman (Cardiff), Jerry Reitsma (Ann Marie Hill), Trevor Studden (W.L. Mackenzie), Brynne Teall (Oak Street), Sharyn Wallace (Innisfree)
1.Introductions2.Adopt agenda
By consensus.
3.Minutes of November 14, 2007
Agreed by consensus.
4. Updates
— 2007 rollovers:Corrie has completed her calls to co-ops that had mortgage rollovers in 2007;she reported that Christine is still following up with other co-ops. So far onlyArcadia Co-op, among those responding, has decided not to sign the “dollar-for-dollar” addendum.— Ontario upload campaign:Brian reported through Barbara that the provincial review committee consideringuploading social services is still expected to report in early February. CHFT andCHF-OR staff continue to seek support for uploading co-op costs to the provinceand co-op administration to the Agency for Co-operative Housing.Donald drew members’ attention to a recent City of Toronto staff reportcalled “Tied in Knots: Unlocking the Potential of Social Housing Communities inToronto.” It endorses uploading social housing costs and calls for other measuresto strengthen the sector. It can be read at— CHF/CHFT letter to minister about “additional assistance”:No update was available. But it was noted that CHF Canada has recentlydelivered a proposal to the minister (see next item) that may contain mention of our dealings with CMHC over the non-availability of “additional assistance.”
 
AACH Minutes, January 8, 2008
— CHF Canada action on RGI subsidies/last year’s AGM resolution:As reported in CHFT’s
Focus
e-newsletter, CHF Canada has presented aproposal to officials of HRSDC calling for continuation of RGI subsidies beyondthe end of operating agreements and increased funding of current subsidyprograms. Brian reported through Barbara that this proposal is being followed upwith staff lobbying of friendly Tories.Resolution #3 at the 2007 AGM called for CHF Canada to lobby governments onthis issue and report to members by December 31, 2007. The new proposalappears to respond to the resolution, although the account in
Focus
does notdraw a line between the two. We decided to wait for further bulletins from CHFCanada before asking for the year-end report.
[Note from Barbara, January 18: The report is part of an extensive roundup on political initiatives on chfc.ca. Click “Section 95 co-ops” under “Government Relations” on the home page.] 
— meeting with George Smitherman:Beth reported that she has made another request for a meeting with the MPP for Toronto Centre and is waiting for a reply. Brian had earlier told the group thatSmitherman expressed interest in co-op current issues during the fall electioncampaign. Corrie suggested reminding Smitherman, who is the minister of health, that housing is a key social determinant of health.Maureen noted that the Ontario cabinet has established a poverty taskforce, and Smitherman is co-chair. Co-ops should be seeking input. Barbara willask Brian whether he knows about any CHFT contacts with the task force.
5. Strategy
— Ontario RGI campaign:Brian reported through Barbara that CHFT and CHF-OR still plan to launch thelobby campaign once the upload review is completed, in early February.— CHF AGM:Barbara will ask Nick Sidor to allocate a meeting room for an AACH gathering, asin previous years, and to put notices of the event in AGM material.Noting that 2020 Vision was a main focus of last year’s AGM, memberswondered again when the full toolkit would be available to co-ops. Maureen saidthat Anita Millar’s workshop for Stanley Knowles Co-op on end-of-agreementissues might become a CHFT workshop for staff. Corrie said Tom Clement hadannounced at a CHFT meeting that 2020 Vision facilitators were being trained.Barbara shared some information that Nicholas Gazzard had sent her inresponse to a request in her capacity as president of Windmill Line.In 2007, AACH had a role in drafting resolution #3 and in amendingresolution #2. If we have any new resolutions to propose for 2008, for either thenational or the Ontario AGM, the time is now. Send any ideas toaach@rogers.com for distribution in advance of the February meeting.
 
AACH Minutes, January 8, 2008
— Church-Isabella resolution:Church-Isabella Co-op is already circulating its resolution on revitalizing the co-op housing movement. The resolution arises from the conviction that growth isnecessary to vitality. It has been distributed to the AACH email list and is postedon the Yahoo Group site.Co-ops are encouraged to endorse the resolution. Barbara will confirm theprocess and the deadlines with CHF Canada.
6. AACH business
— revising our “mandate”:Barbara presented this draft for discussion: “The Alliance for Affordable Co-operative Housing brings together co-op members and staff from across Canadato work for the restoration and continuation of rent-geared-to-income subsidies.AACH pressures governments at all levels to fulfill their responsibilities to low-income Canadians by fully funding existing subsidy programs and developingnew forms of subsidy to replace operating agreements as they expire.”The group supported the fairly narrow focus of this draft because it givesAACH specific direction and does not step on the toes of other groups. Wediscussed whether tweaking was necessary to account for the possibility thatcurrent operating agreements could be extended, if the CHF Canada initiativesucceeds. No smooth way to reword for this purpose came to mind.Comments will be invited by email and on the Yahoo Group site.— new email address:The email address for AACH is now aach@rogers.com. The former address(info@fixtheglitchfast.ca) no longer works because its host has gone out of operation. Members thanked Windmill Line Co-op for contributing the newaddress.— Yahoo Group/website:Some members have had difficulty signing up. Barbara invited members tocontact her at aach@rogers.com for assistance.All members are encouraged to join at ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/AACH.Once we get the bugs out, the site should allow members to communicate withone another between meetings and find useful information easily.The website files have been stored.— financial statement: no change since the last statement.
7. Task list
— 18: As noted above, Beth has joined Brian in asking for a meeting.— 29: Barbara will talk to Tom.— 30: As noted above, Maureen said Anita Millar is talking to CHFT.— 33: No progress to report.— 37: Corrie and Christine continue to make calls.
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