Aboriginal Co-operatives in Canada - Centre for the Study of Co ...

~ C A S E S T U D I E SThe NITH co-operative was founded in 1980 and is one of the oldest Aboriginal housing cooperativesin Ontario. After completing a comprehensive feasibility study in collaboration withthe N’Amerind Native Friendship Centre, the NITH was incorporated in 1983 with a mandateto provide housing to Aboriginal 1 people in the city of London. Once having accessed federalfunding, the NITH immediately purchased twenty homes in one particular neighbourhood. Butthe newly formed co-operative was quickly faced with a number of complaints from the non-Native residents who were becoming anxious about the growing Aboriginal presence. Thepresident of the board of directors at the time was, however, able to ease their prejudices andfears by addressing a community meeting and providing information as to the co-op’s structureand plans.The majority of the people didn’t understand. The rumours were going around that theNatives are buying these houses, they’re starting a co-op and each house is going to havetwo or three families in it … with fifteen or sixteen kids. And so we had this communitymeeting and explained to them that most people in the co-op had only two or three childrenand our by-laws state that members can’t be ‘under-accommodated’ and so there is amaximum of two people to a bedroom. We also explained that we are going to be buyingolder houses and we are going to upgrade them and improve the neighbourhood. 2The NITH co-op emerged out of the local Aboriginal community of London. The six foundingmembers, 3 who were committed to developing a housing co-operative for Aboriginal people,were aware of the various federal and provincial support programmes and willing to volunteermuch time and effort. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) HousingCo-op programme, under section 56.1 of the National Housing Act, provided a great deal ofsupport for this initiative in the form of a mortgage guarantee and a subsidy of ongoing mortgagepayments. Under this programme, 15 to 18 percent of the units could be rented on a rentto-incomebasis, with the remaining units required to be rented at fair market value. This coregroup of founders were able to further access the federal Urban Native Housing Programme, 4allowing for the possibility of 100 percent of the units to have rental charges linked to tenantincome.It has never been necessary to have all of the units geared towards income becausewe do have a very diverse membership in our co-op. A lot of couples in our co-op1 Aboriginal identity is broadly interpreted as having some degree of ancestral or community connection and isdocumented by either a status card or a letter from a band office. Eligibility for becoming a member was furtherinterpreted as having a former (and formal) three-month residency in the city as well as a household that was atleast 50 percent Aboriginal.2 Butch Stevenson, NITH.3 Jack Christjohn, Shirley Christjohn, Butch Stevenson, Ivon Stevenson, Joel Johnson, and Colleen Johnson.4 A joint initiative of CMHC and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.~ 337