Windfall About Poverty

ABOUT POVERTY

Facts about Poverty in Toronto

The City of Toronto's population contains one half of the population of the entire Greater Toronto Area but 68% of the individuals living below the poverty line and 75% of the households that are receiving social assistance.
In 2004, 190,610 children (36.1% of Toronto's children) lived in low-income families: 5,320 more children than in 2003. The proportion of Toronto's children living in poverty has grown over the past three years, despite the fact that the number of children in the city has decreased. The city is home to 43% of children in the Toronto region, but 62% of poor children in the region.
The number of children waiting for subsidized child care in Toronto has almost doubled from 4,162 in 2004 to 8,209 in 2006. Given Current funding levels, it is estimated that 72% of the city's low-income children (aged 0-9) do not have access to subsidized child care, restricting their parents' ability to work or attend school.
500,556 people found help at a neighbourhood food bank. By 2006 that number had grown to 894,017. Of those, 731,737 were using food banks in the city of Toronto.
Food banks are no longer considered a last resort by the majority of their users. Across the Toronto region, over 64% of food bank users report that they depend upon food bank contributions as a regular part of their monthly budget.
On April 19, 2006, the city of Toronto conducted a Street Needs Assessment to help form a picture of homelessness in the city of Toronto. The assessment estimated that there were 5,052 individuals who were homeless in Toronto on that day, comprised of 3,649 (72%) in shelters, 818 (16%) living on the street, 275 (5%) in health care or treatment facilities, 171 (3%) in shelters for victims of woman abuse, and 139 (3%) in correctional facilities.
Half of the Greater Toronto region's population lives in Toronto, 66% of the region's recent immigrants live in the city.

Source: Toronto's Vital Signs 2006: The City's Annual Check-up. Toronto Community Foundation, 2006.

United Way of Greater Toronto report
Losing Ground: The persistent growth of family poverty in canada’s largest city, November, 2007

Key findings

Toronto families are losing ground and falling far behind the Toronto CMA*, the province, and the country
The median income of Toronto lone-parent families is in a continuous downward spiral.
A large gap has opened up between the median income of Toronto two-parent families and their counterparts in other areas.
While the median income of two-parent families across the country has risen, the median income of Toronto two-parent families remains below 1990 levels.
Toronto family poverty continues to grow and the gap continues to widen between the City of Toronto, and the rest of the Toronto CMA, the province and the country.
In 2005, slightly more than half of all lone-parent families in the City of Toronto were low-income compared to 1 in 3 in 1990.
In 2005, nearly 1 in 5 of Toronto’s two-parent families were low-income, compared to approximately 1 in 10 at the national, provincial and rest of Toronto CMA levels.

*Toronto Census Metropolitan Area