Divided City Life In Canada's Child Poverty Capital

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DIVIDED CITY: Life in Canada’s Child Poverty Capital 2016 Toronto Child and Family Poverty Report Card Specifically, less than 5% of children live in low-income families in Leaside- Bennington (4.2%), Lawrence Park South (4.4%) and Lawrence Park North (4.6%). On the other hand, more than half of children are living on low incomes in Regent Park (58.1%) and Thorncliffe Park (52.4%) (Figure 4). All told, over 40% of children in 14 Toronto neighbourhoods – mostly in the inner city or in the diverse inner suburbs – are living in low-income families. In general, neighbourhood levels of child and family poverty have not changed greatly (Figure 5). However, significant 5-year declines in low-income rates did take place in some neighbourhoods, such as the downtown east neighbourhoods of Blake-Jones and South Riverdale (12.7 and 9.6 percentage point drops). The largest 5-year increase in the child and family low-income rate was observed in the diverse north-west neighbourhood of Elms-Old Rexdale (a 9 percentage point increase). The stark inequality in family incomes in different neighbourhoods closely mirrors the neighbourhood hierarchy in the City of Toronto’s “Neighbourhood Equity Scores”, released in 2014, which rank neighbourhoods’ social, economic, and physical conditions. 11 All told, over 40% of children in 14 Toronto neighbourhoods – mostly in the inner city or in diverse inner suburbs – are living in low-income families. Figure 4: Percentage of Children Age 0-17 Under Low-Income Measure After Tax Living in each of Toronto’s 140 Neighbourhoods, 2014 38 27 32 33 44 29 31 27 27 32 19 19 40 32 28 27 29 24 31 33 34 31 32 19 12 25 27 15 39 16 18 17 28 39 10 42 23 5 37 28 28 7 15 23 26 35 4 37 41 22 16 10 23 24 20 6 44 15 9 13 21 11 8 4 52 32 29 21 11 16 13 15 25 16 5 6 9 25 24 23 16 15 17 10 12 23 21 14 16 46 13 23 10 33 13 18 19 20 41 49 29 46 58 24 15 34 25 22 25 11 22 28 17 32 29 27 29 32 28 29 15 42 50 19 17 7 N 33 30 38 30 33 37 24 36 44 13 33 38 22 4% – 12% 13% – 21% 22% – 30% 31% – 40% 41% – 58% 12 0 1 2 3 4 Km Source: Statistics Canada, 2014 T1FF Family File Table 18, Community Data Program; City of Toronto, Social Policy Analysis & Research. 10
DIVIDED CITY: Life in Canada’s Child Poverty Capital 2016 Toronto Child and Family Poverty Report Card Figure 5: Change in Percentage of Low-Income Measure After Tax Rate for Children Age 0-17 Between 2009 and 2014 1.6 4.9 -2.6 -1.1 -7.8 -0.9 3.3 -1.1 -7.2 -8.3 0.7 -0.3 0.2 -2.5 1.8 -4.5 2.2 -3.8 -1.4 -0.5 -2.9 -1.4 9 -1.8 -2.3 -0.9 -1.9 -5.9 -2.5 -2.3 4.3 -0.3 -1.3 2.5 -6.9 -2.2 -1.1 -3.8 -2.5 0.4 -1.9 -4.6 2.6 1 -2.6 -3.1 -2.3 0.1 -0.6 -2.2 2.1 -6.4 -5.2 -3.7 -1.5 -2.2 -5.6 1 -1.5 0.6 -1.2 0.7 -2 -1 1.1 -2.6 -1.4 -3.9 -6.7 -4.4 -2.7 3.5 -1.8 -1.4 -6.8 3.1 -3.7 -3.5 -1.1 -1.5 -2.1 -1.9 -4.2 -2.7 -6.3 5.9 -7.5 -8 -4.8 -1 5.2 -3.4 -12.7 2.8 -2.9 1.7 -5.1 -4.5 -8.9 1.3 -3.9 -4.4 -4.1 -6.4 -5.7 -3.7 -7.1 -9.6 -3.1 -7.3 -4.3 -2.6 -2.3 -3.7 -1.7 N -1.4 0.4 -4.7 -3.2 0.3 -0.9 0.8 3.9 -8.7 -1.3 1.4 3.4 -2.4 1.5 -1.8 0.7 1.5 -1.4 -0.7 -2.1 -2.6 3.4 1.6 0.5 -3.9 -12.7% – -6.3% -6.2% – -3.1% -3% – -0.5% -0.4% – 2.6% 2.7% – 9% 0 1 2 3 4 Km Children in the Source: Statistics Canada, 2009 & 2014 T1FF Family File Table 18, Community Data Program; City of Toronto, Social Policy Analysis & Research. Neighbourhood-level income inequality also reflects the racial inequities in our city. Racialized 12 individuals and families are more likely to live in inner suburban neighbourhoods where housing is somewhat more affordable, but where neighbourhoods – according to the City’s equity index – tend to have higher unemployment rates, lower educational success rates and less desirable physical environments (for example, lack of meeting spaces and green space, and a less walkable environment). Indeed, children in the city’s ten most “linguistically diverse” neighbourhoods 13 (e.g., Flemingdon Park, Don Valley Village, Newtonbrook West) experience lowincome rates almost four times higher than children living in the city’s least diverse neighbourhoods (e.g., Beaches, Leaside-Bennington, Lawrence Park South). city’s ten most “linguistically diverse” neighbourhoods income rates almost four times higher than children living in the city’s least diverse neighbourhoods. 11
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