It’s in our interest for the FCHI program to be either made permanent or extended by a number of years, because Woodsworth will be able to sign on to it when our own program ends.
This is an update on the national subsidy program, called FCHI, which provides rental assistance to federal co-ops in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and PEI. It was created by the federal government 10 years ago and it’s set to end on March 31, 2028.
Some background on the federal government’s position on FCHI:
The Liberal government created the program after it won the 2015 election, and in late 2024 it announced that it would extend it by 5 years until 2033, with $360 million allotted to the fund ($70 million per year).
Unfortunately, due to the political upheaval brought on by Trump’s second presidency, PM Trudeau’s resignation and a subsequent federal election, the measure to extend FCHI didn’t pass into law. And then it was forgotten about among all the threats and uncertainty of the new world order. FCHI is still set to end in March 2028.
But CHF Canada continued to lobby hard in support of FCHI, and they were recently joined by Windmill Line Co-op which in the 1990’s led the successful campaign to stop the federal government from downloading federal co-ops to the provinces. Recently, there was a meeting organized by Windmill Line with some of their representatives, a CHFC staffer and this riding’s member of Parliament, Evan Solomon, the Minister of AI and Digital Innovation. Apparently, the meeting went well, with the Minister agreeing to take the issue to cabinet discussions. I’ve been told that Windmill plans to follow up within a month.
As many of you know, Woodsworth is not part of FCHI and has its own government RGI program. Ours provides 25% of co-op households with a subsidy to pay their housing charges. This program was part of our original CMHC mortgage agreement and when our co-op re-financed its mortgage through the National Housing Strategy a few years ago, we were allowed to keep the RGI agreement until its original end date: January 1, 2030.
As things stand now, those 49 households will no longer receive subsidy after that date. This will negatively impact and create much hardship for those households, as well as financially destabilizing Woodsworth as whole.
So it’s in our interest for the FCHI program to be either made permanent or extended by a number of years, because Woodsworth will be able to sign on to it when our own program ends.
I’ve been following developments and plan to keep writing here on any progress that I hear about, but it would be good for Woodsworth to also join the lobbying efforts. So I’m asking for the Board and co-op members to please write to our MP and the Housing Minister about extending FCHI.
Here are their email addresses:
Evan Solomon: Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre, Minister of AI and the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario – evan.solomon@parl.gc.ca
Gregor Robertson: Minister of Housing and Infrastructure – gregor.robertson@parl.gc.ca
These talking points provided by CHF Canada about FCHI that might be helpful:
• Rental Assistance is critical for the stability of existing co-ops.
• FCHI allows co-ops and non-profits to operate as mixed-income communities where people with different incomes can live.
• Many households receiving FCHI would be at risk of homelessness without it.
• The uncertainty around FCHI is already causing significant issues:
• For low-income households, they are uncertain if they will be able to continue to afford to live in their homes, despite rarely having access to a more affordable option. This is causing considerable stress.
• For co-ops, they are wondering how they will be able to pay their bills if some of their members are no longer able to pay co-op housing charges. Most co-ops are at least 25 years old and need repair and renewal. They are seeking private sector refinancing to do so, but lenders are increasingly unwilling, given there is no guarantee a portion of the co-op members will be able to pay their housing charges as of 2028.
Please remember that it’s the members with the greatest need who stand to lose this vital support: low-wage worker households, seniors on fixed incomes, and members receiving social assistance such as ODSP and OW. They are a vital part of this community and they need us to speak up.
Equally important, having the ability to provide subsidy is essential to maintaining affordability and financial stability for all members in our co-op. I hope you’ll join me in writing to our representatives in support of the rental assistance program. The government needs to hear from us!
Author: C. Pasten
Source: The Weekly, Feb 8, 2026