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New immigrants prefer suburbs to living in core neighbourhoods
ANTHONY REINHART
From Monday's Globe and Mail
* E-mail Anthony Reinhart
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* | Latest Columns
March 31, 2008 at 4:43 AM EDT
When the trains rolled into Toronto's Union Station from Halifax in the 1950s, Italian newcomers could often be found wandering among the arriving passengers, unsure where to go or how to ask for help.
If they were lucky, they would be spotted by a volunteer from the Italian Immigrant Aid Society, who would take them into the city to find them a place to live and someone who might give them a job.
"Now, it's very clear we're seeing people that are coming directly from Pearson Airport, where they land, to a home in the 905," said Mario Calla, executive director of COSTI Immigrant Services, the large multi-location agency that evolved out of those humble early efforts.
"It started out as an Italian organization in the downtown area," he said, "but now, with the way immigration patterns have changed, our staff speak 63 different languages, and we have relocated our centres in new immigrant settlement areas," such as suburban York and Peel regions, Mr. Calla said.
A report to be released today by the University of Toronto's Centre for Urban and Community Studies illustrates, in graphic colour, the trend that made necessary the evolution of COSTI (an acronym for another of its old Italian names, Centro Organizzativo Scuole Tecniche Italiane): Almost all of Toronto's new immigrants are choosing the suburbs over downtown neighbourhoods.
Calling this a "dramatic reversal" of the settlement patterns of decades past, the study's authors cited several reasons.
In the case of poorer immigrants, lower-paying jobs have moved from the city to the suburbs, forcing many to follow suit to find employment.
Further, the gentrification of old downtown neighbourhoods that once served as magnets for new arrivals has driven up property values and reduced the supply of cheap housing, the report says.
Meanwhile, changes in Canada's immigration policy that favour higher-income immigrants have spurred an increase in the number of newcomers who can afford to buy their own homes straight away, and many prefer outlying areas.
"Chinese and Indian newcomers can generally afford home ownership in Toronto's newer suburbs," says the report, titled Diversity and Concentration in Canadian Immigration.
"They tend to live in ethnic enclaves and, like the Southern European immigrants before them, have developed an extensive business and institutional presence."
This has forced COSTI and other social agencies to scrounge for the necessary funds to decentralize their services and open facilities well beyond downtown Toronto, making sure to locate near transit lines and along major driving routes, Mr. Calla said.
"People are really dependent on the car and the distances are quite large, so we've found it necessary to be sure that we place our centres in locations that are accessible," he said. "That's been working; our ESL [English as a second language] classes are full and our employment programs are busy."
The report's authors highlight the importance of this in their final paragraph, and warn that "failure to deliver these services, especially to newly arrived low-income immigrants, risks fuelling social tensions that are increasing in other jurisdictions, especially certain West European cities."
Immigrants choose the suburbs
Job migration, urban gentrification and changing immigration policy have spurred the move by immigrants to outlying areas.
WHERE CANADA'S RECENT IMMIGRANTS SETTLED
1965 TO 1971
Other: 55%
Toronto: 24%
Montreal 10%
Vancouver 6%
Hamilton: 3%
Winnipeg: 2%
2001 to 2006
Toronto: 40%
Other: 20%
Calgary: 5%
Ottawa/Gatineau: 6%
Vancouver: 14%
Montreal: 15%
SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, CENTRE FOR URBAN AND COMMUNITY STUDIES
*****
Can't speak for the Indians, but I think as many Chinese immigrants end up in suburban apartments and boarding houses in Scarborough as those newcomers who can afford home ownership (often in older neighbourhoods like Agincourt).
New immigrants prefer suburbs to living in core neighbourhoods
ANTHONY REINHART
From Monday's Globe and Mail
* E-mail Anthony Reinhart
* | Read Bio
* | Latest Columns
March 31, 2008 at 4:43 AM EDT
When the trains rolled into Toronto's Union Station from Halifax in the 1950s, Italian newcomers could often be found wandering among the arriving passengers, unsure where to go or how to ask for help.
If they were lucky, they would be spotted by a volunteer from the Italian Immigrant Aid Society, who would take them into the city to find them a place to live and someone who might give them a job.
"Now, it's very clear we're seeing people that are coming directly from Pearson Airport, where they land, to a home in the 905," said Mario Calla, executive director of COSTI Immigrant Services, the large multi-location agency that evolved out of those humble early efforts.
"It started out as an Italian organization in the downtown area," he said, "but now, with the way immigration patterns have changed, our staff speak 63 different languages, and we have relocated our centres in new immigrant settlement areas," such as suburban York and Peel regions, Mr. Calla said.
A report to be released today by the University of Toronto's Centre for Urban and Community Studies illustrates, in graphic colour, the trend that made necessary the evolution of COSTI (an acronym for another of its old Italian names, Centro Organizzativo Scuole Tecniche Italiane): Almost all of Toronto's new immigrants are choosing the suburbs over downtown neighbourhoods.
Calling this a "dramatic reversal" of the settlement patterns of decades past, the study's authors cited several reasons.
In the case of poorer immigrants, lower-paying jobs have moved from the city to the suburbs, forcing many to follow suit to find employment.
Further, the gentrification of old downtown neighbourhoods that once served as magnets for new arrivals has driven up property values and reduced the supply of cheap housing, the report says.
Meanwhile, changes in Canada's immigration policy that favour higher-income immigrants have spurred an increase in the number of newcomers who can afford to buy their own homes straight away, and many prefer outlying areas.
"Chinese and Indian newcomers can generally afford home ownership in Toronto's newer suburbs," says the report, titled Diversity and Concentration in Canadian Immigration.
"They tend to live in ethnic enclaves and, like the Southern European immigrants before them, have developed an extensive business and institutional presence."
This has forced COSTI and other social agencies to scrounge for the necessary funds to decentralize their services and open facilities well beyond downtown Toronto, making sure to locate near transit lines and along major driving routes, Mr. Calla said.
"People are really dependent on the car and the distances are quite large, so we've found it necessary to be sure that we place our centres in locations that are accessible," he said. "That's been working; our ESL [English as a second language] classes are full and our employment programs are busy."
The report's authors highlight the importance of this in their final paragraph, and warn that "failure to deliver these services, especially to newly arrived low-income immigrants, risks fuelling social tensions that are increasing in other jurisdictions, especially certain West European cities."
Immigrants choose the suburbs
Job migration, urban gentrification and changing immigration policy have spurred the move by immigrants to outlying areas.
WHERE CANADA'S RECENT IMMIGRANTS SETTLED
1965 TO 1971
Other: 55%
Toronto: 24%
Montreal 10%
Vancouver 6%
Hamilton: 3%
Winnipeg: 2%
2001 to 2006
Toronto: 40%
Other: 20%
Calgary: 5%
Ottawa/Gatineau: 6%
Vancouver: 14%
Montreal: 15%
SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, CENTRE FOR URBAN AND COMMUNITY STUDIES
*****
Can't speak for the Indians, but I think as many Chinese immigrants end up in suburban apartments and boarding houses in Scarborough as those newcomers who can afford home ownership (often in older neighbourhoods like Agincourt).
