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ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING
Minutes of MeetingThursday, March 13, 2008, 7:00 p.m.Recreation Room, Windmill Line Co-op, Toronto
PRESENT:
Donald Altman (Church-Isabella; chairing), Barbara Czarnecki(Windmill Line; recording), Brian Eng (CHFT), Beth Wilson (Toronto Women’s),Ronny Yaron (Woodsworth) 
REGRETS:
Murtaza Dogo (Eamon Park), Maureen Foy (Stanley Knowles),Marilyn Garner (Three Links), Corrie Galloway (Windward), Joyce McEwan(Caroline), Patrick Newman (Cardiff), Edward Nixon (Windmill Line), JerryReitsma (Ann Marie Hill), Brynne Teall (Oak Street), Sharyn Wallace (Innisfree),Jennifer Watkins (Cawthra Mansions)
1.Introductions2.Adopt agenda
By consensus.
3.Minutes of January 8, 2008
Minutes of January 8 should say Tuesday, not Wednesday. A meeting scheduledfor February 12 was cancelled, and no minutes were taken at a small meeting onFebruary 25.
4. Updates
— federal by-election meet-and-greets:The two events, at Bleecker Street and Windmill Line, went well. About sixtypeople in total attended. The format of candidates coming one at a time rather than all together allowed for broader discussions. Candidates could go beyondtheir basic talking points, and audience members were clearly engaged andlistening. Brian’s report to the CHFT board will be sent with these minutes.— “existing tools/additional assistance” letter:Brian distributed a draft letter for the federal housing minister, Monte Solberg.The aim is to advise the minister that, despite some earlier assurances, noprogram exists that will give co-ops more funds specifically to make up for subsidy cuts. Brian is to coordinate with the co-ops that requested funds andwere refused.— meeting with George Smitherman:Beth, Barbara, and Gaye Hachie and Carrol Downey of Toronto Women’s metwith Smitherman the afternoon of the AACH meeting. The Toronto Women’sdelegation took the opportunity to thank Smitherman for his help in securing anenhanced assistance package for the co-op last year; they pointed out the flaws
 
AACH Minutes, March 13, 2008
but explained how it had helped.Smitherman was not enthusiastic about the OCHAP/CSHP idea but saidhe would write to Minister Jim Watson if we would supply figures. He wantedestimates of how much housing could be opened up by increasing funding tothese programs. He asked about the possibility of using vacant co-op units for people with mental illness, through a Ministry of Health program; he asked apolicy adviser, Jennifer Morris, to follow up.Brian will get figures for co-ops and co-op units; Beth will phone around for vacancy rates in Toronto Centre; Barbara will ask Scarborough co-ops to counttheir current vacancies.— Ontario poverty reduction strategy:Smitherman said the focus of the cabinet poverty task force would be onchildren, with a child tax benefit probably the biggest component. He said hewould write to Deb Matthews to urge the task force to consider housing as afactor in poverty.Barbara reported that Harvey Cooper of CHF Canada was keeping an eyeon the cabinet initiative and looking for opportunities to make a submission.Harvey also referred to the 25 in 5 initiative, a coalition of social policy groups.Beth is involved in a forum being organized by 25 in 5 on April 14 at Queen’sPark; she will keep us informed.— CHF Canada action on RGI subsidies:Items from CHF Canada were distributed: a lobbying update, press releases, anda proposal sent to officials of HRSDC calling for continuation of RGI subsidiesbeyond the end of operating agreements and increased funding of currentsubsidy programs. Brian reported that this proposal is being revised for use withcandidates in the next election.
5. Current Projects
— Ontario RGI campaign:Brian reported that this lobby campaign is on hold. The report of the uploadreview is not expected until June, and there is a new minister of housing inOntario to be brought up to speed.— lobbying federal MPs and candidates:CHF Canada met with Patrick Brown, Tory MP for Barrie. Brown had been welleducated on co-op issues by Three Links Co-op. He said he would write toMinister Solberg about subsidy cuts.We can lobby the many nominated candidates of all parties, focusing ontarget ridings identified for previous elections. Brian will provide a list of candidates. Unfortunately for AACH, Brian will not be able to organize meetingswith candidates because he is leaving CHFT. Members congratulated him on hisnew position with the Wellesley Institute.
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AACH Minutes, March 13, 2008
6.CHF AGM
— AACH meeting:Nick Sidor has allocated a meeting room for an AACH gathering on Thursday,June 12, at lunch. Barbara will ask whether co-op members not registered for theconference can attend.We will need to agree on a rough agenda for the meeting and prepare aflyer for the registration mailout by mid-April. — networking lunch topic:People who attended last year’s networking lunch have been asked to suggesttopics for this year’s. No one had an “AACH topic” to suggest.— resolutions: Ann Marie Hill:Jerry Reitsma of Ann Marie Hill brought to the February AACH meeting aresolution about the difficulties of co-ops in high-vacancy areas: they can’t offer subsidy to fill units, and their revenues are hurt by the vacancies, making it moredifficult to maintain the properties and attract new members. Jerry was notpresent to report on discussions with CHF Canada about the final wording.
7. AACH business
— revising our “mandate”:This is it: “The Alliance for Affordable Co-operative Housing brings together co-opmembers and staff from across Canada to work for the restoration andcontinuation of rent-geared-to-income subsidies. AACH lobbies governments atall levels to fulfill their responsibilities to low-income Canadians by fully fundingexisting subsidy programs and developing new forms of subsidy to replaceoperating agreements as they expire.”— financial statement:No change.
8. Task list
— 18: Smitherman meeting — done.
9. New business
Beth reported that her research project on co-op housing for the CommunitySocial Planning Council of Toronto is going ahead. The purpose is to documenttrends in affordable housing in co-ops, looking at indicators such as level of RGIassistance. She will investigate the potential to create more RGI capacity withinexisting co-op stock, and eventually building new units and infill.Donald offered to serve on the project advisory committee. Beth will beasking AACH members to participate in various ways.
10.Not to be forgotten
— treating internal subsidy as charitable contribution— contacting non-housing co-operatives and other allies
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