The co-op housing movement in Canada was saddened to learn that Penelope Winter has died after a long illness. Penelope is warmly remembered at the Agency for Co-operative Housing, which she joined in 2005 as the first Director, Program Management Services. Her team members recall her as a manager who always had their back and who went the extra mile for frontline staff as they learned new ways of working with the Agency’s co-op clients.
A pioneer of co-operative housing in Canada, Penelope brought wide experience to the Agency as a former board member of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto (CHFT), the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) and the Cooperative Housing Association of Ontario. As a partner in the resource group Chris Smith and Associates, she was a key figure in the development of housing co-operatives in Toronto and beyond throughout the 1980s. With the elimination of co-op development programs, she spent the next decade working in member services at CHFT and CHF Canada. Between 2012 and 2018 Penelope returned to her roots as the first co-op housing coordinator in Toronto by heading up a new management company for housing cooperatives in the Ottawa area.
Penelope was widely admired for the gallantry with which she confronted difficulties, bringing generosity, honesty and sincerity to the most challenging situations. Her co-op clients will never forget her energy, her warm, genuine smile and her commitment to co-op principles. She continues to be missed.