The Impact of Gentrification in Toronto’s
“Little Portugal” - Canada
Carlos Teixeira
University of British Columbia –
Okanagan Campus
and
Metropolis Canada
carlos.Teixeira@ubc.ca
This paper explores issues related to
neighbourhood change in Toronto’s “Little
Portugal”, and addresses the following
questions:
• What are the main positive and negative impacts
of gentrification on “Little Portugal”?
• Does gentrification mean the displacement of
lower income households, including the ageing
first generation Portuguese, or are there viable
strategies of resistance?
Introduction
• Toronto, the largest and most multicultural city of
Canada, has been for the last five decades the
major “port of entry” for Portuguese immigrants
arriving in Canada
• Portuguese immigration to Toronto began in the
early 1950s, and attained its peak in the late
1960s and early 1970s. In 2001, according to
the Canadian Census, 357,690 Portuguese
were living in Canada
– largest concentration of Portuguese (171,545) in the
country (Statistics Canada, 2001)
Introduction
• Toronto’s “Little Portugal” is located in the
St. Christopher House catchment area of
west central Toronto
• This neighbourhood today contains most
of the community’s social, cultural,
commercial and religious institutions
• as this concentration might suggest, the
Portuguese have also been among the
most segregated groups in Toronto
(Murdie and Teixeira, 2006).
Introduction
•
Evidence from census data reveals that
the Portuguese community in Toronto
has expanded in two areas of new
settlement in recent years
1. Northwest of “Little Portugal” along the traditional
“immigrant corridor” where the Portuguese are
replacing the Italians
2. The western suburbs and, in particular, in the
cities of Mississauga and Brampton.
Introduction
• “Little Portugal” is today a neighbourhood
in transition. This transition has resulted
from three major changes:
1. The movement of a large number of Portuguese
to the suburbs
2. An in-movement of immigrants and refugees from
the Portuguese diaspora (Brazil and Portugal’s
former African colonies)
3. And in-movement of an increasing number of the
urban professional class who see an opportunity
to obtain relatively low cost housing with potential
for renovation in close proximity to the city’s
downtown core.
Introduction
• These characteristics serve to explain why
“Little Portugal” has today become an area
of emerging gentrification
– Residential and commercial gentrification
– “invasion/succession” of different populations
(Portuguese and non-Portuguese speaking
immigrants, African refugees and white
middle-class Canadians)
• Has implications for the “life-cycle” of
“Little Portugal”
Gentrification
Gentrification has been defined as “the loss of
affordable older inner-city housing through
their renovation and upgrade by middle- and
upper-income households” (Meligrana and
Skaburskis, 2005, p. 1571)
• In the Canadian context, most of the
opportunities for gentrification – and its greatest
potential to displace low-income households –
are found within low-income inner city
neighbourhoods (often ethnic/immigrant
neighbourhoods) with a high proportion of older
dwellings (Meligrana and Skaburskis, 2005, p.
1571)
Gentrification
• In the Canadian context very little is known
about the costs of gentrification upon
ethnic neighbourhoods, and much less
regarding its impact upon one segment of
these neighbourhoods’ populations –
immigrant seniors
Research Questions
1. What are the main positive and negative
impacts of gentrification on “Little
Portugal”?
2. Does gentrification mean the
displacement of lower income
households, including the ageing first
generation Portuguese, or are there
viable strategies of resistance?
Table 1
Data Collection (July and August 2006)
Informal interviews:
Portuguese (N=20)
Non-Portuguese (“Canadians”) (N=20)
Total participants/Informal interviews – (N=40)
Focus groups:
Portuguese speaking immigrants (N=3)
Mixed group (Portuguese speaking immigrants and Non-Portuguese) (N=2)
Non-Portuguese (“Canadians”) (N=1)
Total participants in the focus groups – N=42
(N=27 Portuguese speaking* and N=15 Non-Portuguese/”Canadians”).
*N=27 Portuguese speaking includes N=13 Portuguese and N=14 Portuguese speaking
immigrants from Brazil (9), Angola (2), Mozambique (2) and Cape Verde Islands (1))
** Four out of the six focus groups took place at the St. Christopher House, one at
ABRIGO and one at BIA-Dundas St. West. – Toronto.
________________________________________________________________________
Source: Informal Interviews and Focus Groups (Summer 2006)
Table 2
Negative Impacts of Gentrification
________________________________________________________________________
Portuguese
(N=31*)
________________________________________________________________________
Loss of affordable housing
77.4%
Displacement through rent/
price increases
58.6
Unsustainable speculative
property price increases
48.4
Commercial/industrial
displacement
38.7
Community resentment and conflict
38.7
Increased cost and changes to local
services
32.3
Homelessness
29.0
Greater draw on local spending
through lobbying by middle-class
groups
29.0
Loss of social diversity (from
socially disparate to affluent ghettos)
25.8
Secondary psychological costs
of displacement
22.5
Under-occupancy and population
loss to gentrified areas
22.5
Increased crime
19.4
________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Atkinson (2004)
*Missing Cases - 2
Source: Informal Interviews and Focus Groups (Summer 2006)
Table 3
Positive Impacts of Gentrification
________________________________________________________________________
Portuguese
(N=31*)
________________________________________________________________________
Increased property values
64.5%
Increased social mi x
58.1
Stabili zation of decli ning areas
48.4
Encourage ment and increased
viabili ty of further development
45.2
Reduced vacancy rates
32.3
Increased local fiscal revenues
32.3
Decreased crim e
25.8
Reduction of suburban sprawl
19.4
________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Atkinson (2004)
*Missing Cases - 2
Source: Informal Interviews and Focus Groups (Summ er 2006)
Table 10.1: Total population and
Portuguese population (single
ethnic origin): Portugal Village,
West Central Toronto,
Mississauga and Toronto CMA,
1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001
Area
1971
1981
1991
2001
Total Population
44,590
35,140
33,050
30,940
Portuguese
12,285
19,655
15,945
11,220
% Portuguese
27.6
55.9
48.2
36.7
Total Population
124,355
103,110
106,276
108,190
Portuguese
18,235
31,645
27,125
19,660
% Portuguese
14.7
30.7
25.5
18.2
Total Population
162,920
299,115
471,013
629,875
Portuguese
1,415
8,655
21,175
25,280
% Portuguese
.009
2.9
4.5
4.0
Total Population
2,628,125
2,998,947
3,893,046
4,647,955
Portuguese
39,550
127,635
124,330
129,280
% Portuguese
1.5
4.3
3.2
2.8
Portuguese Portugal Village/
Portuguese Toronto CMA
31.1%
16.4%
12.8%
8.7%
Portuguese West Central Toronto/
Portuguese Toronto CMA
46.1%
24.8%
21.8%
15.2%
Portuguese Mississauga/Portuguese
Toronto CMA
3.6%
6.8%
17.0%
19.6%
Portugal Village
West Central Toronto
Mississauga
Toronto CMA
Variable
Portuguese
(West Central Toronto)
Portuguese (Mississauga)
Total Population
(Toronto CMA)
69.5
59.0
45.2
1961-1970 (%)
25.8
33.0
12.4
1971-1980 (%)
37.8
38.4
16.9
1981-1990 (%)
22.1
15.2
20.8
Age and Household Structure
Less than 15 Years (%)
12.0
16.4
19.8
15-24 Years (%)
15.6
15.9
13.1
25-44 Years (%)
29.2
34.4
33.3
45-64 Years (%)
26.7
23.9
23.0
65 Years and Over (%)
16.5
9.4
10.8
One Family Household (%)
72.8
84.1
69.8
Less Than Grade 9 (%)
47.1
26.7
9.2
Grades 9 to 13 (%)
27.8
37.0
27.0
Some College/University (%)
20.5
30.2
38.9
4.6
6.0
24.9
Management (%)
5.6
9.1
12.6
Professionals (Skill Level A) (%)
5.8
6.5
18.5
Supervisors etc. (Skill Level B) (%)
31.1
30.8
26.1
Clerical Workers etc. (Skill Level C) (%)
28.6
34.9
31.6
Sales & Service, Other Manual (Skill Level D)
28.7
18.1
11.3
$59,995
$80,210
$76,454
Immigrant Population
Table 10.2: Selected
characteristics of a) The
Portuguese population:
West Central Toronto
and Mississauga, 2001
and b) Total population,
Toronto CMA
Born Outside Canada (%)
Educational Achievement
University Degree (%)
Occupation
Income
Average Household Income
Seniors on the Move: Why are First
Generation Portuguese Moving
Out?
•
Who moves out of “Little Portugal”?
– Respondents identified three main groups
leaving the area for reasons both voluntary
and forced
1) Portuguese in their 40s or 50s, who are currently
homeowners in “Little Portugal”
2) Well-off Portuguese seniors, with their house
mortgages paid, who move in order to join their children
already established in the suburbs
3) Portuguese seniors who are retired and on fixed
incomes
Seniors on the Move: Why are First
Generation Portuguese Moving
Out?
• Opinions in the Portuguese community are quite
divided vis-à-vis the pros and cons of
Portuguese seniors moving from “Little Portugal”
to the suburbs
“This old generation spent a lot of years in Little
Portugal and they were used to do almost
everything in Portuguese [businesses,
services…]. In the suburbs is different….they will
be more isolated. Some return back after a few
years in the suburbs.”
Seniors on the Move: Why are First
Generation Portuguese Moving
Out?
• In other cases, they maintain a close contact with the
Portuguese neighbourhood of “Little Portugal” via
frequent visits to shop in the Portuguese businesses
and/or participating in the social, cultural and/or religious
life of the Portuguese community
“I have seen a lot of my clients living far away from “Little
Portugal”…in the suburbs. However, they return to do
their shopping in “Little Portugal”. My Bank [Portuguese
owned] decided to open on Saturdays because we have
clients that come from Mississauga, Brampton Kitchener,
Cambridge….to do their banking with
us.…coming/visiting on weekends our “Little Portugal” is
like going home….”
The Seniors Who Stay: Why they
Remain?
• Most of the Portuguese who decided to
stay in “Little Portugal” are first generation,
born in Portugal, “blue collar” workers with
low levels of education and little
knowledge of the English language
• This group is the least assimilated of all
Portuguese, and is also a population that
is ageing fast with an important number of
them already retired.
The Seniors Who Stay: Why they
Remain?
• This group seems to be resisting gentrification.
Regarding those Portuguese who resist gentrification to
stay in “Little Portugal” respondents noted:
“The majority of those that stay here are first generation
Portuguese…the ones who arrived in the 1950s, 1960s,
and 1970s…the ones that were able to renovate their
houses to accommodate their housing needs…and
some due to lack of mobility – both social and physical decided to stay…”
“A lot of senior Portuguese are managing a house at the
expense of their health…what a price! But this shows to
me how important that is for them.”
The Seniors Who Stay: Why they
Remain?
• Key to this resistance to gentrification is
the importance of proximity to “Little
Portugal” – mainly to Portuguese services,
businesses, cultural and religious
institutions – as a source of security for
this particular group of Portuguese.
The Seniors’ Perspective: Benefits
of Gentrification
• For almost two thirds (64.5%) of the
Portuguese respondents, the “increased
property values” as well as the “increased
social mix” of peoples (58.1%) into “Little
Portugal” represent by far the two most
positive impacts of gentrification in the
neighbourhood
The Seniors’ Perspective: Benefits
of Gentrification
• However, the increased property values in
the neighbourhood represent a “mixed
blessing” for with increased property
prices in “Little Portugal” also come
increases in property taxes. This aspect of
the gentrification phenomenon particularly
affects Portuguese seniors, who are often
retired and living on fixed incomes.
The Seniors’ Perspective: The
Downside of Gentrification
• For Portuguese respondents the “loss of
affordable housing” (77.4%) in “Little
Portugal” is the most important negative
impact of gentrification in the area,
followed by “displacement through
rent/price increases” (58.6%) and
“unsustainable speculative property price
increases” (48.4%)
The Seniors’ Perspective: The
Downside of Gentrification
• According to the Portuguese key informants,
Portuguese seniors are perhaps the segment of
the Portuguese population most impacted by
gentrification, followed by low income renters
• As some respondents noted, the Portuguese
have been known for being a resourceful
community where through the help of internal
“informal” ethnic networks of contacts (friends
and relatives) they have been able to
considerably improve their housing
conditions/quality through renovations. However,
some noted that things have changed for
Portuguese seniors:
Portuguese Seniors - Renting Part
of the House as a “Survival
Strategy”
• Some Portuguese senior homeowners are
already facing serious challenges to keep their
houses. In the face of drastic increases in
property taxes and maintenance/utilities costs as
a consequence of gentrification, they are coping
by renting parts of their houses
• This strategy seems to work for most of the
Portuguese seniors, particularly the ones more
in need of cash, who will rent part of their
dwellings in a very “informal” (verbal) way where
receipts are not necessary (avoiding taxes).
Accommodating the Housing Needs
and Preferences of Portuguese
Seniors: Housing Policy Implications
• A major source of preoccupation in “Little
Portugal” today is the ageing of the
community. There is agreement among
our respondents that more needs to be
done in order to accommodate the
housing needs/preferences of our
Portuguese seniors:
Accommodating the Housing Needs
and Preferences of Portuguese
Seniors: Housing Policy Implications
“The solution for an aging population is more incentives for
them to take care of their own homes…aging in place is
a good way to go. Also there is an urgent need in our
community for more housing for seniors…Some of them
do not need any type of assistance so far, neither
physically or financially...the only problem they have is
that they can not take care of their homes anymore and
the expenses to keep up a house today are very high.
What they need is a place where they can spent the rest
of their lives in peace….feeling at home [‘ambiente
Portugues’]…It’s a group of citizens that is growing in a
scary kind of way.”
Accommodating the Housing Needs
and Preferences of Portuguese
Seniors: Housing Policy Implications
“There is a great need for seniors housing like
Terra Nova in here. Lots of people want to go
there. People come from Orangeville to come
and live here … now that they are seniors they
want to have what they are used to around
them…I find the Portuguese speaking
community wants more buildings like that where
there’s high concentration – not necessarily all
of them, but where it’s close to “Little Portugal”
…because to most of the Portuguese going to
the nursing home is the last resort…” [FG].
Accommodating the Housing Needs
and Preferences of Portuguese
Seniors: Housing Policy Implications
“I am a social worker…I see the problems they face. Aging
in place is the first choice for the majority of Portuguese
seniors and they will do their best to stay in their homes.
We should also follow the lead of other immigrant groups
like the Italians, the Chinese…in Toronto that built
specific seniors housing that caters to their cultural
needs and preferences – linguistic, food…I mean ethnic
oriented senior homes. After 50 years in this country we
could have done better…the Portuguese community
need to put their mouth where the money is…building
and catering specifically to the needs of the Portuguese
community seniors…from a business point of view they
would make a lot of money. At my knowledge the
demand is there but the need has not been filled.”
Conclusion
• In general, all of the Portuguese respondents in
this study agreed that “Little Portugal” is a
neighbourhood in transition.
• There was also a general consensus that the
population most impacted by the forces of
gentrification that are now re-shaping the
residential areas of downtown Toronto –
including “Little Portugal” – are the aging first
generation Portuguese immigrants, now seniors,
who originally bought and renovated their homes
decades earlier in a more inexpensive housing
market.
Conclusion
• As the responses indicate, there is widespread
recognition in Toronto’s Portuguese community today
that many Portuguese seniors are confronted by the
dilemma of being “land rich and cash poor”
• Gentrifiers, mostly urban professionals, are seeking to
move into downtown areas such as “Little Portugal” and
this demand is having a significant impact upon housing
prices in the area. While respondents generally regard
this as a good thing, they also note that for Portuguese
seniors this increase in property values is a mixed
blessing, for it is accompanied by increasing property
taxes and maintenance costs which they – often retired
and living on fixed incomes – are not able to support.
Conclusion
• First generation immigrants concentrated
together in “Little Portugal” where they built an
institutionally complete community with
businesses and services providing them with
everything that they need to live in the
Portuguese language and in a Portuguese
cultural “way”… are understandably resistant to
the idea of dispersing to the suburbs where
housing costs are cheaper, but where they
would be missing the language, culture and
friendships that they enjoyed in “Little Portugal”.
Conclusion
• There are no easy solutions – at either the
policymaking level or the community level
– for the housing challenges facing
Portuguese seniors who wish to keep their
community alive, but who are confronted
by the economic realities of gentrification,
including higher property taxes
Conclusion
• Some respondents have suggested government
providing more information and supports to members of
this group on the possibility of entering the formal
housing rental market. Many members of this group
subdivided parts of their homes decades earlier, after
they initially purchased the houses, in order to take in
renters so as to quickly pay off their mortgages. Were
Portuguese seniors to resort to this strategy again, with
their properties now in a highly desirable location in the
city of Toronto, they would go a long way towards not
only easing the cost dilemmas of this group but also to
providing much needed affordable housing for Toronto’s
constrained rental market
Conclusion
• However, while this might resolve the
dilemma’s facing Portuguese seniors from
gentrification in the short term, in the long
term this group – and “Little Portugal” –
are confronted by the realities of an aging
population. Some of the respondents cited
this as an issue of grave concern, and one
requiring state and community
intervention:
Conclusion
• “We are ageing as a community….we will have more
and more Portuguese seniors here. We will see a
bipolarization …and we have not worked hard enough
with the other Portuguese speaking communities living in
and around “Little Portugal”. We have a lot to do to break
down the isolation that separates us …It’s urgent .we
need more seniors’ housing in our community….I am
pessimistic…I get the feeling that we missed the “boat”
already. We are one of the few communities among the
largest communities in Toronto that didn’t invest enough
or at all in seniors’ housing…a disaster. The major
challenge now is how to accommodate our seniors in
terms of housing in a cultural space where they feel at
home.”
Conclusion
• From this perspective, while Portuguese seniors and
“Little Portugal” may survive the forces of gentrification,
in time this group and the community will be confronted
by serious housing challenges of an aging population
that may, in conjunction with gentrification, ultimately
mean the end of “Little Portugal” as we know it today.
Thus, while the question of the impact of gentrification
upon immigrant groups, and particularly seniors, has
received little attention from scholars and policymakers
to date, it is clear from this case study that this issue will
demand more detailed attention in future as Canada’s
“baby boom” and first generation immigrant populations
age and, in the process, transform Canada’s residential
urban and suburban housing markets.
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