According to the Find a Co-op tool on its website, the 50-year-old Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto (CHFT) represents 187 properties in Durham, Toronto and York regions. Filter results by vacancies, however, and the number of properties across the three regions drops to zero. Even waiting lists, it turns out, are off-limits to new applicants; that’s how great the demand is for multi-unit non-profit housing that’s owned and operated by the people living in it.
The logjam is set to loosen somewhat in the next few years when 612 new homes become available, likely via lottery, in Ontario’s largest-ever co-op property. Made up of rent-geared-to-income (RGI), affordable and market rental housing, the 1.16-hectare project at 2444 Eglinton Ave. E. in Scarborough will be operated by the CHFT, which was selected to play its usual role by CreateTO, the six-year-old agency that manages the City of Toronto’s $27-billion real estate portfolio.