On Thursday November 4, I had the pleasure of attending the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto’s (CHFT) annual awards evening at St. Lawrence Hall. This was the 14th year CHFT recognized and celebrated the many accomplishments of its member co-ops.

Among the co-op members waiting to receive their awards were a number of local politicians, including Rosario Marchese (MPP, Trinity Spadina), Adam Vaughan (Toronto City Councillor), Peter Tabuns (MPP, Toronto-Danforth) and Glen Murray (MPP, Toronto Centre).

Co-operatives were honoured for a range of accomplishments. Gardening efforts, for example, were recognized with awards such as the Gardens of Distinction, Outdoor Garden, Vegetable Garden, Rooftop Garden, Hall of Fame Garden and the Combined Garden. There were also awards for newsletters, websites, youth involvement, living in diversity and the achievement of the year, to name a few.

SHSC sponsored the Hall of Fame Garden Award and I was delighted to attend the event as SHSC’s representative and the presenter of the Gardens of Distinction Award. Although I attended the event in an official capacity, I truly enjoy these events on a personal level. I have a long history of involvement with the Co-operative Housing sector, having served on the Ontario Council for almost 8 years, many of those as its President. One of the reasons that I feel so passionately about co-operative housing is because of its focus on its members – the people who make up its community.

Sometimes we in the social housing sector tend to focus on the physical assets (the $40 billion housing stock asset in Ontario) or on property management. It is my belief, however, that while these areas are very important and must continue to be nurtured, we must never lose sight of the people that reside in this housing. Housing is not just “units”, it is people’s homes. If you had the opportunity to view all of the slides showing the numerous gardens I mentioned above, you would undoubtedly see the pride that these co-op members have in their homes and the efforts they are willing to contribute to make their homes and communities better places to live and call home.

To close out this blog, I’d like to note the CHFT staff who marked their 20th anniversary with the organization. They were also recognized at the event. Congratulations to both Angela Calderone and Judith Collins who both have made “people” their focus over the past 20 years.

I am already looking forward to attending next year’s event where CHFT will be introducing a new “Green Award”. To all the members of the co-operatives highlighted last Thursday evening, I salute and commend you for your achievements!

Last month I attended the 2010 ENERGY STAR® Participants Gala in Ottawa, hosted by Natural Resources Canada.

I was there with SHSC CEO Lindsey Reed and Board Chair Roger Maloney to accept the ENERGY STAR® Collaborative Initiative of the Year Award. This award honours those who, through partnerships, help businesses and consumers save money and contribute to Canada’s climate change objectives.

SHSC captured the award for its light bulb replacement and appliance bulk buy programs. Over these past three years, SHSC in collaboration with its subsidiary GLOBE, Toronto Hydro, housing providers and residents installed over 136,000 ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent bulbs in 30,000 housing units and reduced more than 6.5 MegaWatts in electricity demand from the grid.

In 2009, SHSC launched its Appliance Bulk Buy program, offering ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances, as well as the environmental decommissioning of old appliances. This collaboration of not-for-profit housing corporations, municipalities, appliance manufacturers and government agencies has resulted in the sale of 3,000 ENERGY STAR^® qualified refrigerators.

According to the ENERGY STAR® Saving Calculator, the direct environmental benefit of these two programs is equivalent to taking over 320 cars off the road or planting 160,000 trees. Roger accepted the award on behalf of SHSC. He shared the stage with other award recipients from different categories, including:

• Whirlpool Canada
• Sears Canada
• Hydro-Québec
• Veridian Connections
• Manitoba Hydro
• Toshiba Canada
• Climate Change Central
• All Weather Windows
• JELD-WEN Canada

But SHSC isn’t resting on this recent accolade. In 2010, both programs are being expanded – with the launch of a new Toronto Hydro ‘Deep Measures Retrofit’ program and a province-wide ENERGY STAR®-certified Windows Bulk Buy program (more about the latter below).

Introducing New Windows and Sliding Glass Door Program
Following the success of these initiatives, SHSC will be launching a new ENERGY STAR® Windows and Sliding Glass Door program soon. Similar to previous bulk buy offering, SHSC acts as the administrator to ensure integrity to the process – we have established product standards, managed a public request for proposals and negotiated competitive prices with a volume rebate based on the participation of housing providers. Look out for the official launch of this brand new ENERGY STAR® initiative.