Wellesley Institute

Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Publications Toronto Suburban Rooming Houses: Just a Spin on a Downtown “Problem”?

Lisa Freeman

Toronto Suburban Rooming Houses: Just a Spin on a Downtown “Problem”?

Toronto’s Suburban Rooming Houses: Just a Spin on a Downtown “problem?” by Lisa Freeman, looks at the zoning by-laws for rooming houses in Toronto’s inner suburbs. Rooming houses are often seen as last-resort housing, a downtown issue, or a health and safety hazard. But rooming houses are a crucial component of private-market affordable housing stock for many Torontonians. As rooming houses continue to surface in suburban communities, it becomes increasingly important that they are safe, healthy, and regulated. This qualitative study is the first of its kind looking at rooming houses in the inner suburbs in Toronto.

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Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.