EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Poverty by postal code, 1981-2001

Poverty by postal code, 1981-2001 - Toronto, Canada

Introduction

For many years Toronto has enjoyed a reputation as one of the best cities in the world to live. The findings from this study raise serious doubts about how much longer the city can maintain this status. growing neighbourhood poverty.

Description

What can be done to turn the tide of neighbourhood distress?

When United Way of Greater Toronto asked Torontonians about their local communities in 2003, their responses gave the data in this report greater meaning. A scan of government policy and funding trends identified service areas that were better funded and more accessible today than five years ago, as well as those that had lost ground.

The aim is to raise public awareness of the stresses on many of the neighbourhoods. Another aim is to influence government and community leaders to work together to develop strategies that will turn the tide of

Conclusions

The key findings brought out by this study:

There has been a substantial rise in the rate of poverty among Toronto's families over the last two decades, with almost one in every five families in 2001 living in poverty.
Today, Toronto's poor families are much more concentrated in neighbourhoods where there is a high proportion of families living in poverty compared to twenty years ago.
This trend towards concentration has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of higher poverty neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto in the last two decades, approximately doubling every ten years.
The increase in the number of higher poverty neighbourhoods has been especially acute in the inner suburbs.
There has been a profound shift in the resident profile of higher poverty neighbourhoods, with poor visible minority and immigrant families making up far larger percentages of the total poor family population in these neighbourhoods today, than twenty years ago.

The recommendations:

Putting Neighbourhoods on the public policy agenda;
Making housing affordable;
Providing liveable incomes;
Creating employment and retraining opportunities;
Investing in social infrastructure;
Help newcomers fulfil their potential and promise.

Contact info

United Way of Greater Toronto
Phone: +1 416 7772001
mfuhrman@uwgt.org

Publication date

01/04/2004

Researcher

Mr. Frances Lankin, President of United Way of Greater Toronto

Links

United Way of Greater Toronto

Poverty by postal code full report (PDF, English, 673 KB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Quality of life

Keywords

Financial inclusion