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Ask Vera Enshaw where she might go if her current home is no longer an option and her immediate answer is a prolonged silence.

“I really don’t know. My husband and I are both approaching retirement age. We live in a two-bedroom home that we could not ever, ever afford outside of this co-op. Or anywhere else in Vancouver.”

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But it’s a reality that Enshaw and her husband may have to face quite soon along with thousands of others. Their co-op’s land lease with the City of Vancouver is due to expire, despite nearly a decade of efforts to have the city renew it.

Meanwhile, the La Petite Maison Co-op has continued to deteriorate. There have been expensive, short-term fixes along the way to remove mold and keep other issues at bay, but what the co-op really needs is a full envelope remediation, expected to cost about $3 million.

Nobody is willing to lend them the money, however, because of the soon-to-expire lease. And so the co-op is left in a housing limbo. It’s the same story with nearly 50 other co-ops across the City of Vancouver. They are waiting for a signature that would secure badly needed affordable housing tenure, allow members to move forward with repairs and, in some cases, pursue partnerships and redevelopment opportunities that would create even more affordable housing.