Nine out of 10 families occupying aging highrises in Toronto’s low-income neighbourhoods are living in inadequate housing that heightens their risk of homelessness, according to a University of Toronto study being released Friday.
The findings, made public the same day that advocates will rally across Canada in support of National Housing Day, represent a crisis that’s “very widespread and very serious,” said researcher Emily Paradis.
“I went into this knowing that the problem was huge,” said Paradis, who has worked on homelessness issues for 25 years. “I was struck, though, by the fact that nine out of 10 families are in housing that fails to meet basic standards of adequacy … That was, to me, just indicative of such a crisis in housing for low-income families.”
