Regent Park: Phase One Complete, 2009.
On a crisp fall Saturday morning in 2009, 800 families move into the newly built homes. The new modern buildings with their red brick walls are part of the “visionary plan” beginning in 2006 to transform one of Toronto’s worst slums into a harmonious mixed-income community. Social housing units no more, the new neighbourhood that spans from Parliament eastward to Oak and Dundas Sts. now has an abundance of parks, daycares and even an aquatic centre. The new Regent Park residents will not only live safely and comfortably, they will also live healthfully.
Blueprint of the future Regent Park includes through streets, a variety of houses and apartment buildings, green space and more local businesses. (Image courtersy of Regent Park - A Place to Call Home)
Meanwhile...
Dystopia/displacement
I’m afraid that there will be displacement for Regent Park residents once the Revitalization Project. The rent-geared-to-income housing complexes will give way to higher-end models, chasing the old timers out of their own homes in order for a new population (a richer population) to move in. Where will these people go? The city is cleaning up the appearance of the neighbourhood, but in doing so, the socio-economic disparity will only become wider. The current Regent Park residents have two choices: relocate or buy into the new scheme. But with less than $20,000 annual income, many of the residents’ common economic predicament, buying a new condo is still a dream, not a choice.
Take a look at Sean Purdy’s in-depth study that examines the failure of Regent Park. In "Ripped Off" By the System: Housing Policy, Poverty, and Territorial Stigmatization in Regent Park Housing Project, 1951–1991,” Purdy outlines the history of Regent Park, the original promise to make it a heaven for poor people, and the reality that came to be.
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