Tenure-Mix in Toronto: Resident Attitudes and Experience in the Regent Park Community

Policies of mixed-tenure redevelopment have been widely adopted and are promoted as a means of attenuating the harmful effects of concentrated urban poverty. In this paper, we examine the case of Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood, the first large-scale mixed-tenure redevelopment of a public housing community in Canada. Using data from 24 qualitative interviews with residents of both tenures, we provide a descriptive account of conditions in the redeveloped portion of the neighbourhood, describe resident experiences and attitudes towards the policy of tenure mix, and assess the proposition that tenure mix can benefit residents of public housing. We find that tenure mix enjoys strong support from residents of both tenures, particularly among a subset of market residents, and find indirect evidence that tenure mix has increased the social capital of some tenants. We conclude that the physical renewal of the neighbourhood is most responsible for improved residential satisfaction.