This page has hyper-links that you can click to access additional information!
Please note that some links are broken due to CHF Canada retiring their website in May 2017 and opening a new website that shares far less information that oppose transparency and accountability!
The nine comments posted below this blog are recommended reading.
There are some 2,220 housing co-operatives with 250,000 people residing in 97,000 housing units across Canada. Some 2,100 are non-profit zero equity housing co-operatives. Each housing co-op is separately incorporated and self-governed under co-op legislation in each province.
A Fraud and Illegal Acts Friendly Culture exist in the Non-Profit Zero Equity Co-operative Housing Sector in Canada. These co-ops are most vulnerable to embezzlement by their very nature. First, there are no 'owners' watching over every dollar collected as revenue and paid out as an expense. Unfortunately, most people are less concerned when it is not their own money at risk.
Co-ops are governed by unpaid volunteer board of directors that can often lack competencies, with little interest in training that may contribute to a non-existent, inadequate or a disregarded management structure.Governing legislation, by-laws, agreements, along with other rules and regulations may be ignored or not followed. Enforcement of legislation...is expensive and rarely enforced by government, and for modest or low income co-op members' to hold board of directors accountable for mismanagement of non-profit zero equity housing co-ops.
A good system of internal controls can protect the assets of the co-op, but these controls can lack oversight, and be circumvented through collusion when associative difficulties attributable to poor governance and management that include no understanding of the cooperative formula, a lack or improper exercise of leadership, cliques, abuses of power, favoritism, theft, and fraud...
For housing co-ops, the potential impact of having fraud or theft resulting in loss of cash or other items of value become known to its volunteer members', much less the public, reported in the press, and on social media, can damage the co-op board of directors, and staff management reputation, resulting in loss of confidence by both the community, especially taxpayers or other donors that fund co-ops can have significant long-term negative effects so great that most occurrences of fraud... are most frequently hidden away or 'swept under the rug'.
Some major non-profit zero equity co-operative housing stakeholders are on behalf of the government of Canada; Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is responsible for federal co-operative housing programs and policies. Under an agreement signed with CMHC in 2005, the Agency for Co-operative Housing provides information to co-ops, assesses risks and takes action to mitigate them, and monitors and seeks compliance with operating agreements. Municipalities are responsible for some co-ops within provinces.
Compliance monitoring is expensive, not done in detail, and many records that may document the co-ops management are not monitored. CMHC seldom enforce compliance with the terms of the operating agreements...with co-ops, and municipal governments within each province seldom enforce compliance of legislation...because obtaining a court order can be expensive in order to force compliance; or appoint a receiver to manage the housing co-operative.
The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada is the nation-wide lobbyist and umbrella organization for over 900 member housing co-operatives, with some 11 regional member housing federations or associations outside the province of Quebec. CHF Canada is the sole partner with the Agency for Co-operative Housing.
Each separately incorporated housing co-operative hire chartered accountants to provide book-keeping services during the fiscal year, and hire an independent chartered accounting firm to conduct the annual audit at the end of the fiscal year represented as the housing co-op annual audited financial statements.
Example, in the province of Ontario where some 557 housing co-ops are located, the firm, Prentice Yates & Clark, Chartered Accountants (PYC) provide accounting and audit services with an extensive list of client non-profit zero equity housing co-operatives located in the greater Toronto area and various communities.
All of the aforementioned stakeholders have a co-op housing client relationship with the co-op board of directors, and staff management that these stakeholders can share information, but may not be shared or released to other co-op housing members' that include Ken Hummel (Ken), Member, Athol Green Co-operative Homes Incorporated.
Ken has communicated at various points in-time with almost all aforementioned stakeholders:
THE CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION (CMHC)
CMHC is responsible for federal co-operative housing programs and policies, and assesses risk and takes action to mitigate them using various types of risk management techniques. Some examples:
CMHC set the financial reporting requirements for the Auditors' Report that enable the preparation of audited financial statements free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. Example CLICK HERE
CMHC contracts the Agency to prepare an Annual Portfolio Performance Review Report based on a Annual Information Return (AIR) submitted to the Agency by some client housing co-ops and its auditors'. The co-op housing portfolio was reported as 542 in 2015. The AIR consist of questions that include "The auditor issued a Communication of Matters identified During the Audit of the Financial Statements that identified significant weaknesses in internal controls, fraud, illegal acts or possible illegal acts. (If yes, please give details.)
Annual portfolio reports sent to CMHC are unedited. These reports are edited for public review, and appear not to report statistical information or data about weakness in housing co-ops internal controls, fraud, illegal acts or possible illegal acts when published on the Agency's public internet website, web-pages. In 2016, the Agency stopped publishing Annual Portfolio Performance Review Reports on its public internet website
CMHC legal action, put a housing co-op into court ordered receivership. In a statement of facts filed in court in September 2015, CMHC says the co-op owed $4.8 million to CMHC as the co-op had not made any payments of principal or interest to CMHC in respect to the mortgage since 2001. The lack of funding was attributed to poor management and persistent corporate governance deficiencies with no proper board of directors since 2001. The co-op construction cost was $3.68 million in 1981. Mist Holdings purchased the co-op in 2016 and the cash sale was not disclosed by CMHC. CLICK HERE
CMHC legal action, put another housing co-op into court ordered receivership:
CLICK HERE to review Hoy Creek Co-operative Homes
THE AGENCY FOR CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING (THE AGENCY)
The Agency has a relationship with its client housing co-ops, board of directors, and staff managers, not individual members residing in client co-ops.
The Agency does not concern itself with housing co-operative governance or democratic functioning, unless problems put the co-ops loans at risk
When a co-op member contacts the Agency and has a complaint about co-op governance or management, the Agency usually refers members of co-ops with governance...issues to a CHF Canada local member housing federation or the Agency's sole partner, CHF Canada.
Within the Agency's website has a password protected client website that share reports about individual co-ops and their peer housing co-ops, and other information. The co-op's username and password are available from a co-op main contact (usually staff manager or co-op president). Some co-op's give the password to everyone on the board, and to any member, on request, as the board of directors decides.
Information in the Annual Information Return (AIR) for housing co-ops allow the Agency to generate some additional reports that include annual risk rating reports for individual housing co-ops, and the Agency's co-op data report that allows the Agency to combine data from many co-ops, and share it with each individual co-op. Other information shared are co-op agreements, and their Agency's correspondence that may contain management consultations for the co-op from the Agency.
THE CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING FEDERATION OF CANADA (CHF CANADA)
CHF Canada has a relationship with its member housing co-op's, board of directors, and staff managers, and its sole partner, the Agency, not individual members residing in their member co-ops!
CHF Canada in association with its member housing federations develop model housing by-laws that can be customized by member housing co-ops located in Ontario. In Ken's view, these by-laws can be oppressive that do not respect democratic values. Robert's Rules of Order are not allowed. Confidentiality and limiting disclosure are over-reaching...draconian that can be viewed as autocratic...
CHF Canada Model Organizational By-Law pander to member housing co-op board of directors and co-op managers that remove transparency from the co-op general membership that can encourage or are enablers of a malfeasance friendly culture within their member co-ops that approve these by-laws.
CHF Canada is a lobbyist organization that sell services to its member housing co-ops. CHF Canada member housing federations also sell services to its member co-op's, and lobby for co-ops with these organizations advocating for housing co-op's, not individual co-op housing members'.
One example of their advocacy work in Ontario is Bill 14 that was proclaimed into law in 2013 that made housing co-op's, and their co-op board of directors, and staff co-op managers less accountable under law to the co-op's general membership CLICK HERE
In the matter of Bridlewood housing co-operative, purchased by CHF Canada
Some co-op housing members' through collusion stopped co-op monthly mortgage payments in an attempt to put the co-op into receivership, and that some members' may purchase their co-op units far below market value in contravention of law. In an unprecedented move, CHF Canada intervened and placed the co-op into court ordered receivership, and CHF Canada purchased the co-op at a cost far below market value in 2012 CLICK HERE
It appears that CHF Canada accomplished three key objectives: 1) prevented the unlawful sale of the co-op to some resident members', 2) punished co-op members' for their illegal scheme, and 3) provided CHF Canada a business opportunity to profit financially over some years.
It appears that CHF Canada has no intention to return governance of their non-profit housing project back to the co-op housing model for the foreseeable future, if ever, in complete opposition of CHF Canada's co-operative housing principles and values...
CHF Ontario region held its annual general meeting in 2000. A resolution was submitted that any member found guilty of a criminal offense related to fraud, theft, and sexual misconduct be ineligible to to run for or act as a director, officer or other position in a housing co-operative or in organizations which comprise the housing co-operative sector.
The resolution was defeated and referred back to CHF Ontario region council. In 2001 CHF Ontario region council decided it could not support the resolution because they believed that co-ops would face a number of problems if they tried to rule out candidates on the grounds set out in the resolution. Co-operatives would have to set up procedures to allow them to check the history of all candidates, and the council was concerned that checks could put people off running for the board because they would not want to go through this process. Council members think it is better to let each co-op member decide whether someone who has a record of offence would make a good director. CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE
THE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMISSION ONTARIO (FSCO)
The FSCO mandate is to provide regulatory services to some various business sectors across Ontario that include twelve categories Co-operatives that include co-op housing. FSCO annual reports include licensing, monitoring, and enforcement activities across the sectors that it regulates with statistics. Example: Public and stakeholder inquires and complaints reporting statistics on co-operatives include all 12 categories of co-operatives reported as a singular statistics.
CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE
SOME EXAMPLES OF FRAUD OR FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS...REPORTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA...
The following is a true scenario of a scam that occurred at a housing co-op with advice from the Durham Regional Police Service Fraud Unit on each aspect of the scam CLICK HERE
