DACHI is one of the older co-ops in the city.

Don Vale is the area of solidly built late-victorian houses bounded by Parliament Street, the Don Valley Parkway, Regent Park and St. James' Cemetery. In the early seventies it was becoming a decaying area of seedy rooming houses owned by absentee landlords who were interested in the investment potential of the land as choice locations for high-rise apartment buildings.

In 1972, city council put a freeze on high-rise developments. Don Vale speculators turned to renovating and reselling their houses as luxury townhouses. So began the "white-washing" of Cabbagetown. Middle class professionals moved into the neighbourhood. Tenants were being evicted.

What are now DACHI houses were at that time part of a group of properties assembled by speculators in the late 1950's, known as the Cowley houses. Being the only cheap housing in the area, evictees from the neighbourhood crowded into these houses, often living in appalling conditions.

On June 28, 1973 the first meeting was held to plan non-profit low-income rental housing in the Don area. By November, DACHI incorporated as a not-for-profit co-operative, and obtained an option to buy the Cowley houses. The plan included the renovation of thirty-six existing houses and the building of eight new houses for low and middle-income families who would be their own landlords, but who would have no equity in the property.

After overcoming substantial opposition by a local property-owners' association, Don Area Co-op was approved for a loan from CMHC, with just six days left before the March 5, 1974 closing date for the purchase.

The delays had been costly. It was decided to sell a vacant lot on Spruce Street and two large houses on Carlton Street, demolish one house on Dermott Place, and convert most of the thirty-three remaining houses to separate flats. Eight new townhouses were to be constructed on the west side of Dermott Place, between Carlton and Spruce.

The renovated houses were to be ready for residents by the winter of 1974, while new construction was planned to start by the spring of 1975. Current residents of the Cowley houses were to be given preference as residents. In an effort to inform the tenants about the co-operative, the first newsletter, issued in July 1974, featured an article entitled "Who Is Mr. Dachi?" Residents began to take an interest in tenant organization, community relations and maintenance of the houses; in other words, in running their co-op.

The first renovated unit was opened in October 1974.

After a tumultuous and sometimes confrontational six years, all residents became members. The co-op joined CHF and CHFT, the national and local co-operative housing sector organizations.

Plans continued for the new houses to be built on Dermott Place, which came to be known as Phase II. Design alterations for the houses went to the Committee of Adjustment, and eventually, in April 1985, to the Ontario Municipal Board for approval. The building permit was issued in October, and Phase II was occupied on March 15, 1986, 3% over budget.

New buildings brought a sense of rebirth to DACHI. With the landscaping that was part of the Phase II package came a renewed appreciation of the environment. Changes came gradually, and people in the co-op started to take pride in what they had here. What was once a deteriorating concrete yard full of old cars is now the Carlton Common. Hedges and perimeter fences appeared. Trees were planted around the parking lot. A gardening craze began. Eventually the Grounds Committee was established.

So now, thirty five years after opening, Don Area Co-operative Homes Inc. is flourishing, but none the less aware that, as Joe Berridge, (a city planner in the mid-seventies who helped get DACHI off the ground) told us: "The trouble with co-ops is that people have to co-operate."

Suggested reading: "The Trouble With Co-ops" by Janice Dineen, Green Tree Pub. Co., 1974, available from the Toronto Public Library.