Welcome to the
Click here to tour housing co-ops and apply online.
Read the following article to learn about the Network's creator.
Housing co-ops get new Web site
Site
takes legwork out of applying to co-ops, helps recruit new members and
advertises services
BY
WANDA CHOW, NEWSLEADER STAFF
For
Ron and Judy McElheron, applying for a place in a housing co-op has been a long
and arduous process. The Burnaby couple are looking for a new place to live and
faced spending hours travelling to co-ops to get applications, driving around to
get a feel for the projects and filling out the forms.
Some places they applied to then took two to three months to reply.
But
a recent search of the Internet under “co-op” brought the couple to a Web
site that has made all the difference.
The
three-month-old Canadian Co-operative Network (www.CanCoNet.com), is run out of
the New Westminster offices of co-op property management company, Cana
Management Associates. It's the brainchild of Chris
Corless, who started his Web
page design company, CCN Web Services, after completing his computer training at
the Sanctuary Foundation, also in the Royal City. A resident of a co-op himself
in east Vancouver, Corless is an ardent advocate of such housing projects and
created the site to assist three parties in the co-op family - applicants,
housing co-ops looking for new members and service providers, such as
maintenance and management companies.
Applicants
can view pictures of housing projects for a "virtual tour" and apply
on-line, while co-ops can cast a wider net for new members and share
information, and companies can advertise their services. These were all needs
Corless identified through his volunteer work with the housing projects. Before
the Web site, potential applicants would have had difficulty first of all
finding out the locations of such projects, Corless noted.
Anyone
can apply to live in a housing co-op, whose residents are owners rather than
tenants, he explained. The
“rents” are actually mortgage payments or maintenance fees and are set at
varying levels depending on the members’ incomes.
Government subsidies assist some lower income residents and Corless makes
sure to note when they’re available with the vacancies posted on his Web site.
Co-op
living is “halfway between rentals and condo-ownership,” he said, with
residents expected to participate in the running of the complex, from ensuring
repairs are competed to yard work.
Social
events ensure residents get to know their neighbours and form a community,
better able to deal with conflicts if they arise.
With
support from the Entrepreneur Assistance Society of Eastvan, Corless established
the co-op network, which currently includes 10 Lower Mainland housing co-ops. He
hopes to get more of over 200 Greater Vancouver co-ops involved and eventually
expand to other provinces so one day, people could apply to co-ops for a new
home across the country. He also
plans to add Webcasts of co-op events, such as conferences, and eventually, food
and retail co-ops.
As
for the McElherons, they’re still waiting for a spot in a co-op where they
look forward to living in a neighbourly community atmosphere.
In the meantime, the co-op network has enable them to apply to numerous
housing projects at once, with Corless informing them when new projects become
available online.
They
receive initial replies within days, instead of months, and as seniors, they
don’t have to fret over travelling across town just to take a look at a place.
“On
the Internet, if it’s raining, you don’t have to worry,” Ron McElheron
added with a laugh.”
Click here to see the original News Release