Downtown Québec City housing co-ops work together to support member engagement

The Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood in the heart of Québec City is home to over 35 housing co-ops, with around 1,500 members. When representatives of several of these co-ops met up to talk, they realized they shared some common challenges, especially the difficulty of mobilizing co-op members. They formed a collective to work on these issues together. If only a few of a co-op’s members get involved in running the co-op, it can lead to burnout. By promoting the value of teamwork and mutual aid and developing resources to make it easier for more members to get involved, this project helps make the neighbourhood’s co-ops more vibrant and sustainable. This grant allowed the collective to hire a resource person, who helps them develop a plan to identify and work together on their shared challenges. Since the collective is not a registered organization, their regional co-op housing federation, the Fédération des coopératives d’habitations de Québec, Chaudière-Appalaches (FECHAQC), is acting as the project trustee.