Poverty hides in the suburbs: Will 'priority neighbourhoods' help?

A single mother with a five-year-old child, Bobbi-Jo Campbell does not like her neighbourhood. Laid off from her low-paying job two years ago, Ms. Campbell decided to go back to school. Now, she and her son live in one of the many apartment buildings dotting the Bloor and Dixie area of Mississauga.

"Honestly, this is the Mississauga ghetto … or at least that's what I would call it," Ms. Campbell said. "But I don't really have a choice. It's the only place that I found with a daycare and cheap rent."

The Dixie-Bloor neighbourhood is one of the areas where Mississauga's low-income and impoverished residents live. The neighbourhood is full of recent immigrants - mostly Sri Lankan and Polish - single parents, seniors and young families with children. Yet, one could be forgiven for not recognizing it as the "ghetto" Ms. Campbell calls it.

Surrounding the small cluster of apartment buildings are large houses with spacious lawns and BMWs parked in the driveways. A lush private golf course a mere 10 minutes walk away has membership fees starting at $3,600. For every apartment building with scratched paint and taped up broken windows, there are far more well-off homes. Turning a street corner makes a world of difference in the Dixie-Bloor neighbourhood, because unlike Toronto, Mississauga's suburban poor and homeless are well-hidden.

"When you think of Mississauga, you think rich, affluent houses [and]a booming and growing city," said Anita Stellinga of the United Way in Peel Region. "Sometimes it's easy to forget, just because it's not easily visible, that poverty is a big issue in Mississauga."

According to the 2006 census, the incidence of low income in Peel in 2006 is at 14.5 per cent, nearly equal to the provincial average of 14.7 per cent and the national average of 15.3 per cent. That's why the Mississauga Summit wants to identify priority neighbourhoods, much the way Toronto has done, in which to tackle poverty, said co-chair Brian Crombie.

"One of the benefits of the planning in Mississauga and having mixed neighbourhoods is that you don't have large ghettos," Mr. Crombie said. "The downside is that you don't see the poverty and bringing the service to people who need it can be a challenge. Creating priority neighbourhoods would direct resources to areas that need it the most."

The Mississauga Summit is considering a list of 13 potential neighbourhoods including Dixie-Bloor, Malton, and Cooksville. Planning is still in the early stages, but the summit presented its idea to the Mississauga City Council in February. The next step is to present the proposal to the public in late May and early June. Investments would be sought in such areas as language services and daycares, and the provision of increased access to community centres and libraries.

For the past six years, Toronto has poured $40-million into efforts to counteract widening income gaps by targeting 13 needy neighbourhoods.

Just how successful Toronto's priority neighbourhood program has been depends on whose opinion you get. Proponents say the program has done much to build a sense of community, reduce crime, increase opportunities for youth and improve services for people in underserved areas. Critics - including Mayor Rob Ford - say the Toronto program has squandered money without producing any tangible benefits.

Although supportive of the priority neighbourhood idea in principle, Mississauga Councillor Chris Fonseca said the hefty price tag from Toronto's experience is definitely a consideration.

"We have to balance financial commitments with the needs of the community," she said. "You can invest any amount of money, but unless you have a certain readiness from the neighbourhood to engage, it won't work."

And Ms. Stellinga is very mindful that some neighbourhoods would not want to be labelled a priority neighbourhood.

"You don't want this to become a stigma or ghettoize the neighbourhood, so it's something we need to be very careful about" she said.

The proposal might just work in Mississauga, said Meghan Nicholls, spokeswoman for the Mississauga Food Bank. The food bank has seen a 20 per cent increase in demand since the recession.

"It's one of those issues you can't ignore anymore," Ms. Nicholls said. "If this proposal (for creating priority neighbourhoods enables various groups to deliver services where they are most needed, then it could work."

From a food bank's perspective, Ms. Nicholls said that would mean delivering food to areas where it's needed. She acknowledged accessibility is an issue in Mississauga where public transportation is limited compared to the vast network in Toronto.

"Sometimes just getting to a food bank can be a problem in Mississauga if you don't have a car," she said.

As for Ms. Campbell and her five-year-old son, she's not sure if the priority neighbourhoods plan will work, but she is willing to keep an open mind.

"You can call this neighbourhood whatever you want - priority neighbourhood, a ghetto … it doesn't really matter," she said. "What we really need is the buildings to be cleared of bed bug infestations [and]more affordable daycares so that people can actually go to work and earn."

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PRO AND CON

Toronto's priority neighbourhood program

Proponent: Scarborough Centre Councillor Glenn de Baeremaeker says Toronto's program has been a "huge success" in the two priority neighbourhoods in his ward. "The kind of services in a suburb like Scarborough aren't as developed as in the downtown wards," he said. "Yes, there is an image or stereotype about Scarborough, but the reality is priority neighbourhoods have done a lot in helping people find jobs, access to daycare and engaging youth."

Critic: Scarborough-Agincourt Councillor Mike Del Grande said he hasn't seen much change in the Steeles-L'Amoreaux priority neighbourhood in his ward. "We've got more daycares now, but I think a flaw with this program is there's no measurement of progress." As budget chief, Mr. Del Grande will be looking at cuts to many of the city's programs, which include the Priority Neighbourhoods project. Currently, council is waiting for staff reports on the progress of the project.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

FACTS AND FIGURES

The numbers

According to Statistics Canada, the groups most vulnerable to poverty are also among the fastest-growing in Peel Region's burgeoning population: recent immigrants, visible minorities, single parents, young families with children and seniors. Of these groups, seniors show the highest incidence of low income at 40 per cent, followed by single-parent families at 35 per cent. (Statscan defines low-income as income levels at which families spend 20 per cent more than average of their before-tax income on food, shelter and clothing).

Between 2001 and 2006, the percentage of Peel children aged 0 to 5 in low-income families grew from 14 per cent to 19.8 per cent, higher than the provincial rate.

According to the Mississauga Summit, unemployment rates in Mississauga during the recession soared from 6.6 per cent to 10.8 per cent - a figure higher than the GTA, Ontario and the country.