Neill-Wycik Co-operative College, located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a student residence with over 700 rooms, accommodating students of many of the colleges and universities in the city. In the summer months, when only about 350 students are staying at Neill-Wycik, it also serves visitors as a low-cost hotel, serving upwards of 24,000 guests per summer. Neill-Wycik is a co-op, which means that the residents/members are also considered owners. Members are given opportunities to make decisions, vote on by-laws and to set the policies of the co-op.
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History
In 1966, Kathy Whalen and a small group of Ryerson students developed an initiative to create Neill-Wycik. The then Ryerson Polytechnic Institute offered the group its property on 96 Gerrard Street that was scheduled to be demolished. The group then secured approval for a $5.4 million mortgage from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and used that money to construct the building. Such loans had only recently been made possible by an amendment to Canada's National Housing Act which enabled student housing co-operatives to get financing from CMHC. On August 15, 1970, Neill-Wycik opened its doors to students. The building was named after three persons: Wycik was the last name of Aurilee and Raymond Wycik, who ran a small cafeteria in Ryerson University's Kerr Hall and Neill was A.S. Neill, the Principal of Summerhill, one of the most successful English free schools.
Neill-Wycik commenced the building of an expansion in December 1986. The Marten's Wing, or McGill Wing, so named for the street it abuts, opened in January 1988.
Present operations
Neill-Wycik is one of five members of the Ontario Student Co-operative Association (OSCA), as well as being a member of the Ontario Co-operative Association (OnCo-op).
In 2006, Neill-Wycik was presented the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada's Jim MacDonald Award for Social Change for instituting its Member Contribution Program. This program, which involves members of the co-op doing 2 hours of volunteer work each month to contribute to functioning and social life of the co-op, was implemented around 1995.
Neill-Wycik staff members unionized as part of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1281, circa 1995.