When Jo-Anne McNamara retired from consulting in 2018, she’d spent four decades working and volunteering in Toronto’s co-op housing sector.
It was in the 1980s when Jo-Anne, then a member of Spruce Court Co-op, was elected to the CHFT board where she served for two terms. She’d also worked in co-ops and in the Ministry of Housing in a position related to co-ops. She managed Spruce Court Co-op and Hugh Garner Co-op from 1983 to 1988, then worked for CHFT for ten years.
Professionally, she became a Development Co-ordinator during the height of co-op development in the 1980s and early 90s. In 1998, with co-op housing development on hiatus due to the end of federal and provincial programs, McNamara obtained her certificate in conflict resolution and began providing consulting services to hundreds of co-ops throughout the GTA and Ontario. The continued relationship she had with CHFT and many of its members made her one of the family. We see why the CHFT board chose Jo-Anne McNamara as its recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Member award!
