Income Inequality Knows No Political Boundaries (But We Need A Larger Regional Body to Address It)
Our municipal and regional governments do not work together enough to properly address spatial income inequality and we need a regional body across the GTA who will.
Spatial income inequality describes “the extent to which individuals, families, or households are geographically concentrated and segregated by income in a region or a city.”1 Polarization represents the shrinking ‘middle class’, or the growing gap between high-income and low-income households, as a result of the share of middle-income households decreasing. Spatial income inequality and polarization are increasing across both the City of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York (York Region), creating many cross-regional urban policy problems that are not being adequately addressed by regional/municipal governments.
The affordable housing crisis is an example of a policy problem that exists across political boundaries, and is evident across Canada and the Greater Toronto Area. TD economics reported that the average price of homes across Canada has increased 80% in the last 10 years, while the average employee compensation has only increased 47% over the same time frame.2
Spatial income inequality and polarization has and continues to contribute to the affordable housing crisis. A higher concentration of wealthy households in specific neighborhoods has resulted in rapidly increasing property values which makes certain areas unaffordable to lower-income households. There is also a widening income gap between rental households and homeowner households, with the average income of rental households increasing by $16,687 from 1991 to 2016 in Ontario, meanwhile the average income of homeowner households increased $53,627 over the same time period.3
These housing trends do not exist in vacuums within municipal boundaries, but effect Toronto and York Region, and the province and country more broadly. Affordable housing is a priority for both municipal governments, however their plans to address the crisis are not very aligned.
York Region’s Housing Strategy, Housing Solutions: A Place for Everyone, has three goals: 1) increase the supply of affordable and rental housing; 2) help people find and keep housing; and 3) strengthen the housing and homelessness system. Meanwhile, the City of Toronto’s Housing Strategy, HousingTO, has 13 key strategic actions, which range from policy items targeted towards specific equity-deserving groups (e.g., Indigenous populations, women, seniors) and improving partnerships with different levels of government.
Having two policy responses to the same issue, because municipal boundaries end at Steeles Avenue doesn’t make much sense. There are concrete policies and action items within each strategy, however the breadth and depth of both of the strategies greatly differ. Fragmented municipal policies are not doing enough to address the issue, and a larger regulatory and regional body that is focused on affordable housing beyond city limits (for York Region and the City of Toronto, and ideally other surrounding regions) needs to be established to adequately address the growing crisis.
- Walks, A., Dinca-Panaitescu, M., & Simone, D. (2016). Income Inequality and Polarization in the City of Toronto and York Region.
- Caranci, B., Fong, F., & Gebreselassie, M. (2022). Digging Beneath The Surface: Is Housing Perpetuating A Wealth Divide in Canada?
- Fung, C., Parikh, S., & Zulauf, P. (n.d.). The Crisis of Affordable Rental Housing in Toronto.
