In contrast to many new immigrants, refugees normally have limited financial resources upon arrival in a new country. Consequently, most refugees need some form of assistance in accessing good-quality, safe and affordable housing. This paper evaluates the assumption that refugee claimants in Toronto experience a much more difficult pathway to housing than sponsored refugees. The housing trajectories of a sample of refugees are examined using semi-structured interviews. The results confirm that this sample of refugee claimants experienced a more difficult pathway to housing, at least in the initial stages of settlement. Over time, claimants improved their housing position and narrowed the gap with sponsored refugees.Résumé Contrairement à beaucoup de nouveaux immigrants, les réfugiés ont généralement des ressources financières limitées à leur arrivée dans un nouveau pays. Par conséquent, la plupart des réfugiés ont besoin d'aide pour accéder à un logement de qualité, sécuritaire et abordable. Cet article examine l'hypothèse selon laquelle les revendicateurs du statut de réfugié à Toronto doivent faire face à plus d'obstacles dans l'obtention d'un logement que les réfugiés parrainés. Les trajectoires résidentielles d'un échantillon de réfugiés ont été examinées par le biais d'entrevues semi-dirigées. Les résultats confirment que l'échantillon de revendicateurs du statut de réfugié ont eu plus de difficultés à se trouver un logement, du moins en ce qui à trait à la période suivant leur arrivée. Avec le temps, les revendicateurs du statut de réfugié ont vu leur situation résidentielle s'améliorer et l'écart avec les réfugiés parrainés diminuer.
Despite extensive literature on the nature and impact of gentrification, there has been little consideration of the effects of gentrification on ethnic neighbourhoods. This study evaluates the negative and positive effects of gentrification on the Portuguese in west central Toronto. Details concerning the settlement patterns of the Portuguese, the characteristics of Portuguese residents and patterns of gentrification in inner-city Toronto were obtained from census data. Evaluations of neighbourhood change and attitudes of the residents towards gentrification were obtained from key informant and focus group interviews. The results suggest considerable ambivalence among the respondents, but most agreed that the long-term viability of Little Portugal as an immigrant reception area with a good supply of low-cost housing is in doubt.
Homelessness is a risk for growing numbers of immigrants. Largely as a result of low incomes, newcomers are more likely than the Canadian‐born to spend over 50 percent of total household income on housing costs. Many newcomers suffer ‘hidden homelessness’. They do not use shelters and other services, but share accommodation, couch‐surf and rely on their social contacts for temporary and precarious housing. The adverse impact of low incomes on the housing experiences of Canadian newcomers is exacerbated in the outer suburbs of metropolitan areas where the supply of affordable housing is limited. This study explores the social backgrounds and housing experiences of immigrant households that are vulnerable to homelessness in outer suburbs through analysis of special tabulations from the 2001 census for York Region and interviews with representatives from local community organisations serving immigrant and low‐income populations. The initial findings confirm that a high proportion of newcomers in York Region are at‐risk of homelessness during the first 10 years of residence in Canada. Although renters are more vulnerable than homeowners, a substantial percentage of newcomers who are homeowners pay more than 30 percent of their total income on housing costs. The shortage of affordable rental housing in the outer suburbs exacerbates the impacts of low incomes, immigration status, household size and ethnoracial identities on immigrants' housing.
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