In Eastern Quebec, where distances are vast and resources often limited, many community housing organizations struggle to sustain their operations. Challenges in governance, a lack of leadership succession remains vital to the social fabric of rural regions.
It’s in this context that the Fédération des OSBL d’habitation du Bas-Saint-Laurent, de la Gaspésie et des Îles-de-la-Madeleine (FOHBGI) launched a major restructuring effort aimed at consolidating its strengths and better supporting its members over the long term.
Supporting vulnerable organizations
In recent years, the FOHBGI has seen growing fragility among small non-profit housing organizations scattered across rural and remote municipalities. Often run by devoted volunteers, these groups manage a small number of sometimes aging units and lack the human and financial resources needed for sustainable management.
Without new leadership or adequate means, some were forced to scale back essential activities like building maintenance, threatening the long-term viability of their housing stock.
To prevent such losses and preserve access to affordable housing in every community, the FOHBGI chose to transform itself. The federation is evolving from a traditional representative role to a more integrated one—serving as a collective tool for management, training and support.
This new approach allows it to pool resources, share expertise and act as a regional safety net for vulnerable non-profits by ensuring continuity where local capacity is limited.
Rethinking the collective model
The FOHBGI brings together more than 120 community housing organizations across a territory spanning over 42,000 square kilometers and home to 300,000 residents. To address the isolation faced by its members, the federation has focused on regional cooperation and resource sharing.
This collective framework helps unite local efforts, professionalize management, and protect the community housing heritage across Eastern Quebec.
At the heart of this effort is Logéco (formerly HACEQ), the FOHBGI’s real estate subsidiary, created to pool property management and support the growth of community housing. Logéco has become a key driver of this transformation, standardizing administrative practices, providing professional support to members and coordinating efforts so every organization, regardless of size, can continue to house people with dignity.
From coordination to consolidation
To bring this vision to life, the FOHBGI has launched an ambitious transformation plan that provides legal and strategic support for organizational mergers, develops shared management tools, and establishes a flexible, participatory governance model.
At the same time, the federation is working to strengthen its financial and administrative structures, in collaboration with local leadership and regional partners, to build a more stable and resilient network.
This initiative is supported by a strong network of partners: the Réseau québécois des OSBL d’habitation (RQOH), the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins, and several technical resource groups and regional organizations, including Logéco Est-du-Québec and l’Outil. Together, they are implementing a regional model grounded in solidarity and shared resources.
The Territoires innovants en économie sociale et solidaire (TIESS) is also supporting the FOHBGI throughout this process—documenting lessons learned and sharing them widely. This collaboration is turning the project into a transferable model for other regions in Quebec.
“Grouping together and sharing resources is much more than a matter of service delivery; it is a collective lever to strengthen our shared housing stock and support its growth. The Centre’s role is to support partners such as FOHBGI, Logéco and TIESS to accompany, with humanity, care and expertise, the organizations that choose to come together and move further as one.”
Tangible results for communities
The effects of this transformation are already visible. By 2026, the FOHBGI expects to stabilize the management of more than 200 community housing units and expand its development capacity to 600 new units in the coming years.
Beyond the numbers, a new culture of collaboration and solidarity is taking root. In rural areas, pooling resources and expertise has become essential to maintaining and growing the collective housing stock.
The Centre is supporting the FOHBGI in this major transition through the Sector Transformation Fund – Local Projects. The grant helps strengthen the federation’s team, improve access to specialized expertise and share learnings across the community housing network.
A shared vision for the future
This project demonstrates the strength of collective action: when organizations work together, they reinforce their foundations, amplify their impact and grow an entire network dedicated to community housing.
By focusing on consolidation and resource sharing, the FOHBGI has embraced a sustainable, community-driven model of development rooted in regional realities.
It’s a story of solidarity, trust and vision, one in which a network chose to act so that every community, no matter how remote, can continue to provide dignified, sustainable and collective housing.
Feature photo : By Gabriel Picard, CC BY-SA 4.0
