Hamilton co-op residents celebrate their 1st holidays in a building they worked over a year to own [Video]

Residents in a building in Hamilton’s Durand neighbourhood celebrated the holidays this month with food in one unit and games in another — and it wasn’t just the Christmas spirit that brought them together.

In June, tenants at 272 Caroline St. S. purchased their apartment building from their landlord as a co-operative. The process, which took over a year of organizing and required multiple sources of funding, is the first tenant-led conversion of an apartment to a co-op in Hamilton, the group says.

“We’re getting to become a big family-like,” resident Jim Reynolds told CBC Hamilton.

Residents say it has brought them closer, and given them a sense of security and empowerment, so much so that they’re working to help other tenants do the same.