Quebecers can wait years to get into co-op housing. So why isn’t there more? [Video]

Relics of a long life are scattered throughout Dimitri Roussopoulos’s 19th-century home. The 88-year-old has lived in the two-storey townhouse since 1972, where he and three other residents together pay less than $1,000 a month.

“I often travel and people say, ‘where do you get the money for travelling?’ I say, ‘well, I don’t have to pay a mortgage,'” he says.

Roussopoulos is one of the founders of Canada’s largest housing co-operative development, the Milton Park Community, in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough. The network spans six square blocks, with 616 housing units, 146 residential buildings and two commercial buildings.

Since co-op members own the property, no one has to worry about being evicted or the building being sold — as long as they follow the rules.

“I have a sense of ownership, I have a sense of security,” says Roussopoulos. “I feel my personality enriched. I feel healthier in every way, …