WCRI was founded in July 1964 as the Waterloo division of Toronto's Campus Co-operative Residence Inc (CCRI). Engineering student Richard Rowe had lived in one of Toronto's Campus Co-op houses during a 1963 work-term, and returned to Waterloo with a plan to duplicate the co-op model in Waterloo. Rowe organized a meeting via the Student Christian Movement, and recruited 24 students as paid members of the new co-op. In collaboration, the group bought a boarding house on University Avenue, along with a smaller second house across the street. Initially, the two separate houses on University Avenue in Waterloo accommodated twenty-seven male and nine female students, though meals were taken together at the men's house. One cook was hired, but all other work was done by the members. There was much greater demand than space available. By November 1965, the organization had 140 members in 10 houses and a residence under construction. WCRI also added a house at 59 Albert Street. Initially, the adjacent
University of Waterloo was not in favour of the co-operative.
Wilfrid Laurier University held a similar view, refusing to host posters advertising its existence. However, the success of the Waterloo model would help to inspire a wave of Canadian student co-ops, funded under the
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s student housing program (then named the "Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation). In 1993, WCRI owned 12 buildings and had assets of more than $15 million. At that time it was one of three Ontario student housing co-ops that offered to lend money to The Triangle Housing Co-op, which was started in 1990 by students from
Concordia and
McGill universities, the
Universite du Quebec a Montreal, and the
Quebec Public Interest Research Group. The WCRI loan was contingent upon the Quebec students also securing a mortgage from a local caisse populaire, and a mortgate guaranteed from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. In 2003, the City of Waterloo reclassified the WCRI lands at 280 Phillip Street as Residential (from Industrial). By 2006, WCRI had 972 members and was the largest student co-op in Canada, the second largest in North America. During the Covid-19 pandemic, WCRI rented the 105-bed Dag Hammarskjold residence to the Region of Waterloo as short-term accommodations for people experiencing homelessness. The site was funded by the region and allowed people to keep physically distant from others while also offering food, harm reduction supplies and support to find permanent housing. == References ==