A locational analysis of third sector housing : the case of co-operatives

Events of the past few years have demonstrated that if housing requirements of Canadians are to be met, or if new growth is to be accommodated, a move away from traditional approaches to housing development is necessary. Dissatisfaction with the traditional forms of private and public sector housing has resulted in the emergence of a 'third sector' in the housing field. This third sector places an emphasis on voluntarism, and involves non-profit housing organizations and co-operative housing societies. This study is concerned with the co-operative component of third sector housing in Canada. The primary objective of this study was to describe the spatial distribution of two types of co-operative housing --the building co-op and the continuing housing co-operative. A second objective was to analyze the spatial distribution in order to identify the various factors that have led to this distribution. The analysis encompassed two scales -- the national and the urban. At the national scale, a variety of factors were examined including government policies and the role of support institutions as they relate to the location of both building and continuing co-ops. At the urban scale, two methodologies are used to analyze the pattern of continuing housing co-ops in the Greater Vancouver Regional District and Metropolitan Toronto. Discriminant analysis was applied to a number of demographic and physical variables to distinguish between local areas with co-op housing and those areas without. Then three case studies of the development process of Vancouver projects were examined to determine the role of community attitude in the spatial distribution of co-operative housing. Although co-operative housing in either form is located in every province in Canada, the spatial pattern of each type was shown to be quite distinct. Building co-ops, which have their origins in the Maritimes, exhibit a definite eastern Canada emphasis. Alternatively, continuing housing co-operatives are found from coast to coast, but with a central-to-western Canada orientation. In both cases the determining factors of development were identified as the sponsoring institution and financial support. For building co-ops developed during the 1940's and 1950's, the Catholic Church was the most significant sponsor. More recently, the role of sponsor has been assumed by provincial housing agencies. Continuing co-ops have always been sponsored by the co-operative and labour movements. At the urban scale, continuing housing co-operatives were seen to be quite different in the Greater Vancouver Regional District and in Metropolitan Toronto. In Vancouver most of the projects are new townhouse developments in the periphery whereas in Toronto they are principally rehabilitation or conversion housing located in the central city region. As a result of these divergent patterns, the locational determinants, as identified by discriminant analysis, were quite different. In Vancouver five variables were selected; these were the percentage of houses which are detached, the percentage of population with some university education, the percentage of the employed population with professional, managerial and technical occupations, percentage of occupied dwellings with residents less than one year, and social housing units per capita. The Vancouver discriminant function was not able to adequately distinguish between areas with co-ops and those without in Metro Toronto. Furthermore, when Metro Toronto data were subjected to discriminant analysis, the resultant spatial pattern was too general to be of significance. Community attitude and locational conflict resolution were identified as key locational determinants of continuing housing co-ops in Vancouver. However, it was also found that not all projects generate conflict.Arts, Faculty ofGeography, Department ofGraduat