As the Community Land Trust nears it’s 10th anniversary, we took the CHF BC Board of Directors — and now you — on a tour across the Lower Mainland to see just some of the housing co-operatives that the CLT has saved or developed over the last decade.

As we departed from our Commercial Drive office, our first stop on East Pender St. wasn’t currently a co-op at all, but an empty lot. The property is owned by the Community Land Trust and is the former home of Aaron Webster Housing Co-op. Built in the 1980’s, it had serious building envelope problems and needed to be demolished in 2019. The City of Vancouver has already approved a new 64-unit co-op building, but the project awaits Provincial and Federal funding.

Former residents were able to move into another co-op building in the Olympic Village, shared with Railyard Co-op, but many hope to return to their old neighbourhood once the site is redeveloped.
The other co-op in the Olympic Village is the building that began our current partnership with the City of Vancouver and a legacy of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Following the Games, CHF BC sponsored the former athlete’s residence to become a co-op. While not a CLT co-op, this initial success eventually led to the incorporation and expansion of the Community Land Trust as we know it today.

Community Land Trust: Saving and Developing Co-ops

In 2014 CLT received the land and funding to develop their first building at 1700 Kingsway. This 48-unit building is a partnership with Sanford Housing Society, a non-profit housing operating serving adults with mental illness.

Fast forwarding nearly a decade, we met some residents of North Arm Housing Co-op, which opened in 2023. This development features a partnership with 411 Seniors Care Society, which operates a seniors centre on the ground floor.

Our tour spent a considerable amount of time in and around the River District, reflecting the growth seen there over the last decade, with the sister developments of Fraserview Towers and Fraserview Housing Co-ops, as well as Kinship Housing Co-op, and the newly opened Sawmill Housing Co-op.

Sawmill is currently accepting applications for its 117 co-op homes. An additional 220 homes will be operated by M’akola Housing Society for Indigenous households. This site is unceded Musqueam land, and M’akola has an understanding with the Musqueam First Nation that priority will be given to Musqueam members.

This development is our largest, funded with partially forgivable loans under BC’s Community Housing Fund.

These affordable housing options are a reflection of various programs at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels, providing long-term leases, loan forgiveness, long-term low-interest loans, and other funding supports that make non-profit affordable housing options feasible.

Securing on-going support requires advocacy and trust-building at all levels of government.

In addition to acquiring new land for brand new co-ops, the Community Land Trust has also saved multiple co-ops that were at risk of having their land sold to private developers including Post 83 Housing Co-op, Garden Court, Packard Housing Co-op, and Hoy Creek Housing Co-op, where construction is currently underway to expand the community to over 430 affordable homes.

In Surrey, residents at Sunshine Co-op are preparing to move to a newly completed building only blocks away. The previous building was quite old and on land leased from the City of Surrey, which the city wanted back. The CLT negotiated a 60-year lease on a new site close-by, expanding the co-op from 39 to 69 homes, and is currently accepting applications.

By acquiring existing co-ops, the Community Land Trust not only keeps communities together, and more people in their current homes, but they also keep the land from being developed by private for-profit interests. The most affordable, environmentally friendly housing is existing housing. But when redevelopment is necessary, we are able to create thoughtfully planned communities, phasing in new construction, ensuing current residents have secured homes before older buildings are demolished.

Looking to the Future

In addition to the expansion of existing communities, we also visited the site of what will soon be a new co-operative. McHardy Street Housing Co-op is due to open this summer. Located minutes away from the Joyce-Collingwood Skytrain station, this 102-unit co-op is funded under BC’s Community Housing Fund, and is currently accepting applications.

A tour through the history of the Community Land Trust has driven home the theme of the UN’s Year of the Co-operative, “Co-operatives Build a Better World”. We met members of thriving communities who are developing communal gardens, creating safe places for their children to play, and benefiting from communal spaces and assets like amenity rooms and BBQs. When families and individuals feel secure in their housing, they create homes out of housing and communities out of neighborhoods.
Thank you to all of the CHF BC Board Members who joined us, and the multiple co-op members who welcomed us into their shared spaces and told their stories.