The negative effects of concentrated neighbourhood poverty are well documented and in many countries of the world, and great hope has been placed on a variety of approaches to poverty deconcentration. Toronto’s Regent Park, a 69-acre public housing development that began a redevelopment in 2005, is the site of one such effort. In this study, we recruited a cohort of 132 residents who were relocated as part of the redevelopment and had a right to return. Of these residents, 59 were housed directly in brand new housing units on the site, while 73 were temporarily relocated to other public housing sites throughout the city. In this paper, we report on the effects of relocation to new housing and to relocation units in comparison to a control group of public housing residents unaffected by the redevelopment. The results show almost no evidence of harm, and small improvements in some health indicators, but much more substantial improvements in housing satisfaction, neighbourhood satisfaction and perceptions of safety from crime. There are a number of implications for research on complex interventions and public policy, and these will also be explored.
Presented by:
Prof. Jim Dunn (McMaster University, Canada) https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/people/dunn-jim
Date & time:
January 26, 2022 1:30 pm - January 26, 2022 2:30 pm
Venue:
Venue: Remotely via Zoom - contact the series organisers (at iserseminars@essex.ac.uk) if you do not have the link
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