The Social Development Council of Cornwall and Area is proud to share a collaborative report on The Many Faces of Urban and Rural Displacement. Our report is the product of a partnership between the Social Planning Network of Ontario, the University of Waterloo, and four regional social planning councils (Kingston and District, Oxford County, York Region, and Cornwall and Area). These four regions represent urban, suburban, and rural spaces from across the province.
Across Ontario, tenants are experiencing displacement as a result of the affordable housing crisis. With more renters in the market than ever before, low and, increasingly, middle income tenants are being displaced from their homes. Despite this, we lack a comprehensive understanding of how displacement happens, and its impact, from the perspective of tenants in Ontario who have experienced it.
This report contributes important lived experience data to demystify the displacement process, and provides informed policy recommendations to begin to address this issue. It further functions to contribute to research arguing that lived experience data is necessary to gain a comprehensive understanding of conditions on the ground.
This report is informed by 113 semi-structured interviews with tenants, each of whom lives in one of the four participating regions and has either been displaced or is currently anticipating displacement. Through detailed studies of each region and its tenants’ experiences, we found that despite different built forms, demographics, local economies, population densities, and vacancy rates, tenants across Ontario had a shared experience of displacement. Tenants explained how tactics were used to push them out, and discussed the lasting impact of displacement and of the necessity of change.
We have compiled recommendations for municipal, provincial, and federal governments, based on our findings and ongoing research by academics, policymakers, and housing advocacy groups, to address four key areas of intervention.
The final report can be found here: https://www.spno.ca/news/media-releases/144-new-research-report-on-tenant-displacement-across-ontario
