[news] Toronto the Poor expanding in Size

[Sara Ehrhardt]

>From Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081116611182&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

Toronto the Poor expanding in size
Report to name neighbourhoods considered high-poverty
Government action `crucial,' United Way summary states
KERRY GILLESPIE
CITY HALL BUREAU

In Toronto there are 120 neighbourhoods where more than one-quarter of families live in poverty. 
The number of such neighbourhoods has doubled each decade since 1981, according to a United Way report to be released today. Statistics Canada lists 522 Toronto neighbourhoods in total. 
"Poverty by Postal Code" will name the neighbourhoods and make a plea for immediate action to turn them around - and the lives of families living there. 
"Poor neighbourhoods can spiral into further decline, cause increases in crime and abandonment by both residents and businesses," Frances Lankin, president of the United Way of Greater Toronto, said in the executive summary obtained by the Star. 
The report, based on Statistics Canada data, found the neighbourhoods had some troubling things in common. 
They are full of families with children, new immigrants and visible minorities - and 92 of the 120 are found in the former cities of Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, York and East York. 
That's a dramatic rise from 1981, when the former cities had just 15 high-poverty neighbourhoods. North York, which has 36, and Scarborough, 26, have seen the most dramatic rise in poverty-stricken communities. 
"The expansion of poverty outside the downtown core is inextricably linked to the search for lower housing costs," Lankin said. 
"Government action is crucial, and it must start with a renewed commitment to the construction of affordable housing." 
The report, which focuses on families, defines poverty as the LICO - Statistic Canada's "low income cut-off" levels. 
In Toronto, that would be a family of two making less than $23,000 a year. 
The report found an astonishing rise in the number of visible minorities living in poverty. 
In 1981, visible minority families accounted for just 37.4 per cent of the total poor families. But by 2001 their numbers had risen to 77.5 per cent. 
The report also found families living in poverty are increasingly concentrated. "Twenty years ago, most `poor' families in Toronto lived in mixed-income neighbourhoods. Today, they are far more concentrated in neighbourhoods with high levels of poverty." 
In 1981, only 17.8 per cent of poor families lived in high-poverty neighbourhoods. By 2001, 43.2 per cent did. 
While the two poorest neighbourhoods have always been located in the former city of Toronto, overall it is the only former municipality that has seen a reduced rate of family poverty over the past 20 years. 
The report also found a rise in the number of very poor neighbourhoods - those where 40 per cent or more of families are living in poverty. In 2001 there were 23, up from just 4 in 1981. 
"For many years Toronto has enjoyed a reputation as one of the best cities in the world to live" the report said. "The findings ... raise serious doubts about how much longer the city can maintain this status."