A previous Wellesley Institute study on formal eviction applications in Toronto found that areas with higher proportions of low-income households had 2.5 times higher eviction filing rates. Independent of this association, areas where more Black renters lived had rates that were two times higher. Building on previous work, this latest report explores how local service providers and community leaders understand the causes, impacts, and Black experiences of evictions in neighbourhoods disproportionately impacted by residential eviction filings.
Key Findings
- Interviewees identified three main causes of evictions: tenant economic vulnerability, landlord incentives to evict, and discrimination against populations including Black renters.
- Five renter populations were identified by interviewees as being disproportionately at risk of and impacted by evictions: low-income renters, Black and racialized people, people with mental health challenges, families with children, and new immigrants.
- Evictions were identified as having negative impacts on individuals’ mental and physical health, employment and education, and community relationships. At the community level, evictions were identified as playing a role in the fraying of social, economic, and neighbourhood networks.
- Communities across North York and Toronto were described as being fragmented by evictions, including but not limited to networks of neighbours, interpersonal support relationships, and Black community networks.