News and Updates

CCOC has a long tradition of working with local sponsors to house refugees and new immigrants. With the Syrian refugee crisis, CCOC’s board and staff are glad to step up a bit more and do our part to help more refugee families settle in Ottawa. CCOC’s board, acting on a recommendation from our Rentals Committee, […]

“You can’t cross a chasm in two hops.” I’ve seen that quote attributed to a few people. It’s posted on the cork board above my desk. It’s a good reminder for mission-driven organizations like CCOC and our sister corporation Cahdco: there’s a big need out there and we aren’t going to get anywhere with small […]

CCOC hosted the launch of the City of Ottawa’s new recycling bag initiative at our 464 Metcalfe property on September 2, 2015. Mayor Jim Watson and City Councillor David Chernushenko (Capital Ward) announced the City’s new offer which will make recycling bags available to apartment buildings and other multi-residential buildings until December 2015. We’re excited to see recycling […]

Several decades have passed since Carl Dow impatiently waited to learn how to fly, and Beaver Barracks has been transformed. What was once a World War II military barracks and mess hall in the 1940s is now home to 254 households in downtown Ottawa. We couldn’t be more proud of CCOC’s newest property… But one thing […]

While he may be new to the position of President, Bill Rooney is no stranger to the CCOC Board. After retiring from a 25-year social work career with the City of Ottawa at the beginning of May in 2002 he was elected to the Board that same month at CCOC’s Annual General Meeting. He was […]

For years, CCOC folk have been saying “wouldn’t it be great if someone would set up a tool library in Ottawa”. Downtown residents in century homes and urban apartments lack the garage or basement workshop space of our suburban neighbours. And it doesn’t make sense to buy a particular tool for one job that you […]

I started volunteering with CCOC in summer 2013. I was new to Ottawa and looking for opportunities to get involved in the community. On the invitation of a friend, I attended a meeting of CCOC’s Property Management Committee. After my first meeting, I knew this was an organization that I wanted to be a part […]

We like to think we’re a pretty good non-profit developer, and that we’re really making a difference in closing Ottawa’s housing affordability gap. The truth is, the gap is just too big for us to tackle alone. Even with all the local non-profits, charities and concerned citizens working together, we aren’t going to fix this […]

Four years ago, Ottawa’s Mayor and City Councillors made a bold, progressive policy move with a new investment of $14 million each year to address homelessness and to fight poverty. Since 2011 we’ve seen an 18% drop in homeless families using emergency shelter, 1001 new households benefitting from rent supplements and housing allowances, and 575 […]

This year, CCOC turned 40. Almost 100 tenants have been with CCOC for over half that time, with a few of them having lived with us almost the whole 40 years. To celebrate our anniversary, we wanted to recognize those folks who have been around a long time and who continue to make CCOC their […]

Toby and David moved into their CCOC triplex on Flora Street over 33 years ago. Since then they have been active members of their community on many levels. But their journey to activism goes back much further, all the way to that day 51 years ago when Martin Luther King gave his powerful speech,“I Have […]

This is a speech by Brian Atkinson, CCOC President 1975-76, delivered at our 10th birthday party in August 1984. It blew us away seeing how much is still relevant today, so we decided to share it. Who would have believed back in 1974 that we’d all be sitting here in the National Arts Centre, celebrating C.C.O.C’s […]