Community-owned affordable housing through cohousing

Access to homeownership and renting has become very difficult for households in Greater Montréal. This delays many first-time home purchases, particularly among families with young children, and contributes to families moving to the suburbs. At the same time, the number of seniors continues to grow. These demographic changes have not always been addressed in real estate development or design.

This project will demonstrate an innovative solution to these issues: cohousing. The plan is to establish a land trust in order to build Quebec’s first affordable cohousing project in Lachine. Residents will share common spaces and co-manage the premises with their neighbours. The trust will help keep housing prices below market prices over the long term, addressing both social isolation and affordability.  

Project scope and expected outcomes

An attractive option for young families that cannot access affordable homeownership and seniors who want to age well surrounded

Co-living is a form of cohousing, where residents share spaces, services and even goods. This includes things such as common areas, bulk purchasing or even cars and tools. It also helps to promote a network of mutual support and sharing among cohabitants.

Co-living is attractive to some young families that cannot access affordable homeownership, or for its economic and ecological benefits. It also appeals to independent retirees without significant retirement income and those who want to age well surrounded. This makes it a good option for creating community-owned affordable housing for households with too much income for social housing.

A social utility trust (SUT) is an ideal solution for guaranteeing long-term affordability. SUTs are a Quebec-specific instrument that are the equivalent to the land trusts used in the rest of Canada. Like land trusts, SUTs are ideal for land pooling solutions and creating affordable housing, but with features specific to Quebec law.

Separating land ownership from building ownership to ensure long-term affordability

With support from the National Housing Strategy Demonstrations Initiative, this project will establish a SUT for developing affordable, long-term co-living. The development will take place in Lachine, a borough in the Island of Montréal. It will feature professionally developed, energy efficient co-living solutions that are planned in consultation with future residents.

The planned trust will separate the land ownership from building ownership. The trust will own the land and the households will own the buildings. This will allow to sustainably set and maintain prices, ensuring affordability over the long term. It also discourages speculation and improves the financial sustainability of the housing units.

The units themselves will offer co-housing. The first cohousing development in Quebec was actually launched in 2013, but it has never been replicated. The main reason for this is that residents must complete the housing projects on their own, from start to finish. This project will address that problem by professionalizing the construction of the cohousing, while still involving future residents in its design.  

Offering the community the opportunity to become involved in developing the co-living project

The project will offer the community the opportunity to become involved in developing the co-living project. Future residents can participate in a co-design process that ranges from building design to housing governance. This process will help develop solid relationships, a sense of belonging, mutual support and collective empowerment. Existing local and international models will also provide inspiration for the trust’s governance.

The project will then entail the creation of the long-term lease describing the separation of the land and buildings. It will also establish a pricing formula to maintain the sale price of the homes. The trust will then be incorporated and its financial development model will be created.

Finally, the project’s results will be analyzed and the key steps will be documented. These will be included in a guide for establishing land trusts. Another guide will document the steps for developing a co-living project through a land trust. Both will be available to other organizations. A case study will also be produced and released to the public.

Helping to strengthen non-profit ownership and community stewardship of Canada’s housing system

This project will be the first cohousing project in Montréal and the first affordable cohousing project in Quebec. It has been designed to be replicable across the province and to serve as a model for developing affordable co-living housing. This approach, combined with the guides documenting the project’s approach, will raise attention about both trusts and co-living. It hopefully will inspire developers and municipalities to provide viable, sustainable affordable housing solutions.

In the short-term, the project will produce a co-living development that offers housing with long-term affordability. It will also help reduce social isolation in Lachine, improve mutual support among neighbours and strengthen the sense of community. Over the longer term, the project team intends to acquire additional land or housing projects to build further affordable co-living projects. This would further expand and magnify the project’s impacts.