A family-style co-op in B.C. offers one way to cope with Canada’s affordability crisis

In the growing city of Kamloops, B.C., about a four-hour drive north of Vancouver, a group of people decided to pool their funds and come up with a type of sustainable housing that would work for them.

They formed an equity co-op, which meant they owned shares of a corporation, but that was only the legal piece. They then had a 6,000-square-foot deluxe house built on a little more than an acre of property within walking distance of downtown that overlooked mountains, a creek and the Thompson River. Each has a private unit within the house but share common areas, including a garden and a large kitchen, with two fridges, two ovens and two dishwashers.