Lane Changer - Elana Harte, Changing lanes on the “Being of Service” Highway
two happy lane-changing co-opers
If you’re in the co-op housing sector, you’ll know Elana Harte, the Executive Director of the Central Ontario Co-operative Housing Federation (COCHF). But wait, you ask, is that the Elana Harte whose group, the Sling Sisters, released their first album last week? Or the Elana Harte who fronts one Bowie tribute band and plays guitar in another? Or the Elana Harte who chaired your last co-op meeting? Or the Elana Harte who consults for the Danforth Creative Commons? Yup, yup, and yup. And more. Buckle up. We’re about to embark on some next-level life-highway driving!
I first met Elana when she worked at Riverdale’s Bain Co-op and I helped with their legal issues. She’d discovered the co-op in the aughts and recalls it as a “Oh my gosh, what is happening?” moment in her life. Co-op housing just made so much sense to her and especially when it involved living in Bain’s historic workers cottages which were built a century ago and converted to a non-profit housing co-operative in 1977. For the decade she lived there, she saw the amazing things regular people — co-opers — are capable of in their own lives and for their community. Elana took a Bain staff position which morphed into an interim management role. Next was a professional move to Margaret Laurence Housing Co-op (another former client), also in downtown Toronto where she stayed through COVID19. Elana’s not someone to land forever though, so when the ED role at COCHF became vacant, she filled it temporarily and then ultimately applied for and was hired as their permanent staffer.
All spheres of government recognize Canada’s housing crisis now and see non-profit co-op housing as part of the solution. Co-op development has been on hiatus for so long, nearly no-one of our generation — Elana’s a ’66 baby, just like me — has any development experience. That’s not stopping her though. Her goal is to be responsible for developing 1,000 units of housing so she’s becoming expert in financing models including community bonds; building relationships with partner developers, funders, and governments; planning processes; legal issues including incorporating two new developing co-ops the day of our interview; and everything else that goes along with the development process. Add another set of skills to her already jam-packed resume.
Elana began building that resume five decades ago when she conceived of and organized a yard sale where vendors paid her a 5% commission on sales. Not bad for age 8! A decade later, after uni in her hometown of Montreal, she spent six years working part-time with autistic children and then running a youth centre. What followed next was a brief detour into the for-profit world, working for an insurance broker, then as a travel agent, and finally five years as Canadian Sales Manager for Wenger Corporation, a Minneapolis-based manufacturer of products and services focussed on music education and performing arts.
The private sector held little allure for Harte though. Inspired by children’s author Maurice Sendak’s classic “Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or there must be more to life,” Harte knew she had to find ways to improve the world, not profit from it. That’s the “Being of Service” theme that drives her.
Elana started singing publicly at age 14, and was signed by a recording label in her early 20s. Her style is hard to pin down - she’s comfortable as Bowie in her group, I Will Be King or playing backup in Bowie Lives. She’s the leader of the Sling Sisters, performing many original songs with a style best described as country with a twist. She reports having six other groups that she plays with at least sporadically. Yikes! Elana’s a born performer and it’s because of her infectious onstage persona that I know for a fact you can bruise your hand with a tambourine — at least that was my experience the last time I was one of a group of co-opers onstage with the Sling Sisters at a housing event!
Being a full-time musician is an unfulfilled dream for most, including Elana Hart, but just like fellow lane-changer, opera singer Michelle Simmons, to supplement performance income Harte found 11 years of music-adjacent work as part-time Operations Manager for Toronto’s Exultate Chamber Singers. Now, though, she fills that financial gap with co-op work and a little consulting on the side, including at the Danforth Creative Commons, the boutique creative co-working space where she recently produced the Sling Sisters album. DCC is in the Danforth neighbourhood where Elana lives with her wife of five years. Oh yeah, Elana has a personal life too, including surviving cancer twice and co-parenting her young adult son with her ex. And she’s a volunteer director at the Housing Services Corporation.
Isn’t that a lot, I asked, feeling pretty grateful she’d found time for our interview. No, not too much. She plans her time carefully. And frankly nothing fazes Elana Harte. She’s quick to point out that when it does, she fixes it or moves on. Will she move on again, I asked? She doesn’t rule out a political run, she says with a grin. And what better way to fulfil the drive to be of service!
Missed previous Lane Changer profiles?
Peter Chandler, how it all began for me
Cathy Crowe, her lane is the street
Marissa Bastidas, same lane, new direction
Pam Hudak, living on a multi-lane highway
Jennifer, crossing lanes from Phuket to pup-minder
Emma Simpson, from taxiway to writing terminal
Jessica Waraich, changing lanes on the career on-ramp
Michelle Simmons, straddling two lanes in her mid-40s
Sybil Chandler (1928-2025), proud to find life’s off-ramp
Faiv Noelle, solo on a global highway
Karly Wilson, waiting aside life’s highway for the next lane
Marya Williams, when life’s lanes bring you full circle
Carolyn Whitzman, lanes inspired by mother and grandmother
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