Québec’s Housing Nonprofits Experiencing the End of Federal Subsidy Agreements: Adaptability Without Renewal?

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations have become pivotal actors in the delivery of services. Many of them receive public funding to carry out their activities. However, this funding can be interrupted or even stopped for various reasons, political or not. This article examines how 26 housing nonprofit organizations in Québec, Canada, coped with the withdrawal of federal government subsidies to house low-income households. Drawing on structured interviews with managers, this article reports how they perceived this withdrawal and what they reported as the main challenges and the most effective strategies or “best practices” for addressing these. The discussion ends by positioning the housing case in relation to other organizations in the third sector.

Keywords

• housing, cooperatives, funding, retrenchment, affordable housing, strategy