Robert A. Murdie

The Housing Careers of Polish and Somali Newcomers in Toronto's Rental Market

This paper evaluates and compares the housing careers of two recent immigrant groups, the Poles and Somalis, in Torontos rental market. Both groups first arrived in Toronto in the late 1980s but under different circumstances and with different outcomes in the housing market. The study is situated in a general conceptual framework focusing on factors affecting the housing careers of households. The analysis is based on a questionnaire survey of 60 respondents from each group who arrived in Canada between 1987 and 1994. Information was collected about the search for three residences: the first permanent residence, the one immediately before the current one and the current residence. The analysis considers the individual and household characteristics that differentiate the Polish and Somali respondents, the characteristics of Torontos rental market that potentially act as barriers in the search for housing, the housing search process and the outcomes of the search. The latter includes the nature of the dwelling and its surroundings as well as satisfaction with the dwelling and neighbourhood. The results confirm that the Poles have been more successful than the Somalis in establishing a progressive housing career. The reasons relate to differences in individual and household characteristics and the nature of the local housing market. Specific variables include socio-economic status, household size, community resources, the housing situation before coming to Canada, Torontos tight rental market and perceived discriminatory barriers in that market. The paper concludes with a brief evaluation of the housing career concept as used in this study.

Immigration spatial segregation and housing segmentation of immigrants in metropolitan Stockholm 1960-95.

Immigration policy and the origins of immigrants coming to Sweden have changed dramatically during the post-World War Two period. During the same period, changes in housing policy have affected the type of accommodation available to immigrants and refugees. It is within the context of these and other changes that we develop a model of the driving forces behind spatial segregation and housing segmentation in Sweden and document and evaluate shifts in the spatial segregation and housing segmentation of immigrants in the Stockholm region between 1960 and 1995.

'Blacks in near‐ghettos?’ black visible minority population in metropolitan Toronto housing authority public housing units

Abstract Concern has been expressed in Toronto since the 1970s about the ‘ghettoisation’ of black tenants in Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority (MTHA) public housing. Very little specific evidence exists, however, about the incidence of blacks in MTHA housing. The objectives of the present study are to provide a more detailed perspective on the incidence of blacks in MTHA housing compared to the rest of Toronto and the segregation of blacks within the MTHA system. The results indicate that the proportion of black tenants in MTHA housing increased from 4.2 per cent in 1971 to 27.4 per cent in 1986, a much greater increase than for blacks in the rest of Toronto. Explanations include the recent black Caribbean immigration to Toronto, income constraints, family composition and supply, cost and discriminatory constraints in Torontos rental housing market. The evidence also suggests that there is some concentration of blacks within MTHA housing, especially in suburban high rise developments. The most likel...

THE ROLE OF ETHNIC REAL ESTATE AGENTS IN THE RESIDENTIAL RELOCATION PROCESS: A CASE STUDY OF PORTUGUESE HOMEBUYERS IN SUBURBAN TORONTO

This paper examines the search behavior of a sample of Portuguese and Canadian-born homebuyers in suburban Toronto, Canada. Attention is focused on the extent to which Portuguese homebuyers rely upon real estate agents from the same ethnic background and how this source can influence the homebuyers housing search and ultimate choice of a residence. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey that was administered to a sample of 110 Portuguese and 90 Canadian-born recent homebuyers in the city of Mississauga, a western suburb of Toronto. All were nonresidents of Mississauga at the time of purchasing the house. The evidence indicates that Portuguese homebuyers differ significantly from the Canadian-born in their housing search by relying more extensively on ethnic sources of information, particularly real estate agents from the same ethnic background. However, almost equal numbers of Portuguese purchased houses in Portuguese and non-Portuguese neighborhoods in Mississauga. In this respect, the evidence ...

The Impact of Gentrification on Ethnic Neighbourhoods in Toronto: A Case Study of Little Portugal

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.

CONSISTENCY AND DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT IN URBAN SOCIAL DIMENSIONALITY: INTRA-URBAN VARIATIONS IN THE 24 METROPOLITAN AREAS OF CANADA

Relatively few factorial ecologies have explored either the consistency of the social dimensionality of urban areas in more than a few cities or the separation of city-specific from general effects. This study of almost 3,000 census tracts in all 24 Canadian metropolitan areas (CMAs) used 35 variables from 198 1 census data to solve these problems. It shows there is a persistent similarity in six of the seven to nine dimensions found in separate analyses of three city size categories: over 1 million; 0.5-1 million; 100-500 thousand people. From this basis a combined study of all the centers shows that 85% of the variability can be summarized by nine dimensions called Economic Status, Impoverishment, Ethnicity, Early and Late Family, Family/Age, Pre-Family, Non-Family, Housing, and Migrant Status. The evidence for several different family-related axes illustrates the increasing complexity of the social dimensionality of modern cities based on family differentiation. F-ratio values and Eta coefficients are ...

Local Strategies in Resale Home Financing in the Toronto Housing Market

Most analyses of mortgage lending within cities have provided only a partial view of home finance. In this paper a typology of home finance is developed and the incidence and spatial patterning of home finance types are evaluated for Metropolitan Toronto in 1976-77. The evidence suggests a clear spatial differentiation of home finance types and confirmation of hypothesised relationships between finance types and neighbourhood characteristics. In contrast to many UK and US cities, the availability of privately funded second mortgages allowed undercapitalised buyers, particularly European immigrants, to purchase inner-city housing with relatively low down payments. This was an important factor contributing to the lack of physical decay and abandonment in central Toronto during the period after World War II.

Social differentiation in public rental housing: A case study of Swedish metropolitan areas

It is well known that many large public housing estates built as part of the Swedish Million Programme during the 1960s and 1970s contain a disproportionate number of low income families, immigrants and persons with social problems. Less is known about social differences between public housing from the Million Programme and (a) other housing built during the same period, and (b) public housing built before and after the Million Programme. Using Swedish census data for 1980 and 1985 and analysis of variance this study evaluated social differentiation by tenure within the Million Programme and by age within the public rental stock for a sample of statistical regions in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. The results confirmed that there is a high level of social differentiation between tenures in the Million Programme, particularly for variables measuring economic status, impoverishment and crowding. This is the opposite of Swedish policies that encourage tenure neutrality and minimal residential segregation. ...

The social complexity of the public housing sector in Swedish metropolitan areas

Like many other European and North American countries, concern has been expressed recently in Sweden about the physical deterioration and social segregation of public housing, especially flats built during the Million Programme of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The major objectives of this study were to identify the specific nature of public sector bousing differentiation in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo, to determine groups of similar housing areas and to evaluate the results in the context of hypotheses that have been advanced for explaining social segregation within public sector housing. The major data source was the 1985 Swedish census. Factor analysis and cluster analysis were used to evaluate social differentiation within the public housing stock. The results indicated a high level of social segmentation in the public rental sector. Based on these results, it was possible to develop a composite spatial model of the social mosaic of public sector housing. The constrained choice hypothesis was jud...