Co-op marks four decades of affordable living

Today marks 40 years since the Spruce Woods Housing Co-op welcomed its first tenants. After four decades, the main goal continues to be keeping rent affordable.

The housing co-op, located at 930 Braecrest Dr., opened on Sept. 6, 1985.

Eva Cameron, the co-op’s manager, said there have been many success stories based on people who lived in the apartments and townhouses.

“There’s been a lot of families here that have saved their money and have bought houses,” Cameron said.

The co-op has 41 apartments and 40 townhouses for qualifying low-income families and seniors. Rents are subsidized with provincial funding of about $14,000 per month. The rest of the money for upkeep comes from grants, fundraising and rent.

“It’s been really important for us to be here and remain here.,” Cameron said. “By keeping those rents low, it has helped … thousands of people. It’s been 40 years of helping families and helping seniors live.”

Cameron said although she wasn’t involved with the co-op when it first opened, she knows that interest has grown over the past four decades.

When it first opened, it was sometimes hard to get people to move in, but as people learned what it was, those wanting a place had to be added to a waiting list.

Currently, the waiting list for some units is as much as two to three years, up from a year to a year and a half in 2017. Applicants are interviewed and must provide multiple references.

“In a perfect world, there would be enough affordable housing in Manitoba, in Brandon, for everybody to have a place,” Cameron said. “I would rather be in a position where I say, ‘OK, we’ve got a three-bedroom townhouse for rent. We have to go and find someone.’

“I would rather be worried about finding someone to move in than having to pick some, like, who’s the magic winner? It’s like a lottery for these people,” she said.

Cameron attributed that to rising costs.

Daija Krawicki, who lives at the co-op and works part-time for them as well, agreed.

“Having something like this that’s affordable housing is so important because — just the economy, everyone’s kind of struggling,” she said. “Over the years, it just became that much more important.”

Cameron said without the co-op, families would likely be forced to work more than they already are.

Even though costs have been rising, she said keeping rents low is what’s important.

“Financially, it’s been tough. It’s made it tougher for the co-op to kind of keep moving ahead,” she said. “But for the families and the seniors and people that have lived here over those 40 years, it’s amazing. So that kind of outweighs the whole looking for funding kind of thing.”

One of those tenants has lived in the same townhouse since it opened, Cameron said. Looking through her records, it’s hard to believe how little has changed.

“She’s been in the same unit from day one — two bedroom with a basement townhouse — and her rent or housing charges have gone up by a total of $375 over 40 years,” Cameron said. “Like $9.375 a year. That’s affordable.”

The co-op originally bought the land in 1984 for $315,000 (about $858,000 today) and paid off the mortgage in 2020. While the mortgage was being paid off, the province helped subsidize costs to keep rent low.

Provincial funding stopped after the mortgage was paid, which hurt the co-op, since it was also doing upkeep amid rising prices.

Cameron said the co-op had to fight hard to get provincial funding back, which it did last year. The aid is only for a five-year period now.

“At the end of the five we’re not really sure what’s going to happen, whether they’ll offer something again,” said co-op board president Noreen Mitchell.

Ahead of last month’s Spruce Woods byelection, the provincial government promised $500,000 for the co-op. That will help with repairs and window installation, and help keep rent affordable, Cameron said.

Cameron said she will continue to fight for funding from all levels of government.

“We have the investment from the (provincial) NDP government, now we’re looking federally to use that to hopefully secure some additional funding,” she said. “To keep us going, to finish the upgrade of our infrastructure, and to continue for another 40 years.”

The co-op is marking the anniversary on Oct. 25, with performers coming out for the celebration. More information will be available closer to the date of the event.

» alambert@brandonsun.com