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Neighbourhood Change & Building Inclusive Communities from Within: A case study of Toronto's west-central neighbourhoods
Co-ordinators of Research Team:
David Hulchanski and Sylvia Novac, Centre for Urban and Community
Studies; Maureen Fair and Rick Eagan, St. Christopher House, Toronto
Lead Community Partner:
St. Christopher House, Toronto
Schedule: a 5-year program of research, 2005-2010
Funder: Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Community-University
Research Alliance Program (CURA)
Budget: $1 million
Description: The
focus of this research is on the lived experience of lower-income
people in neighbourhoods in transition - how the macro socio-economic
and political environment affects their lives and the neighbourhoods
they live in. Practitioners - from those who shape policy to service
providers to political activists - require a better understanding of
these forces in order to define appropriate courses of action, such as
specific policies and programs or political action by community
leaders. The research is based on a case study of an older, mainly
residential area just west of downtown Toronto, consisting of seven
neighbourhoods.
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Immigrants, Discrimination,
and Homelessness: A Longitudinal Study of Homeless Immigrant
Families in Toronto
Investigators:
David Hulchanski, Principal Investigator; Robert Murdie,
Geography, York University; and professors Ken Dion, Psychology
and Lynn McDonald, Social Work, University of Toronto
Community Partners: COSTI
North York Housing Help Centre; Midaynta Association of
Somali Service Agencies; Woodgreen Red Door Family Shelter
Research Coordinator::
Sylvia Novac, PhD, Centre for Urban
and Community Studies
Schedule:: 2005 to 2008
Funder: Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Budget: $100,000
Description: This
research seeks to answer four sets of questions: (1) How
and why do some immigrant and refugee families become homeless
in Toronto and what role, if any, does discrimination and
racism play in the process? (2) How long do immigrant families
remain homeless, how many spells of homelessness do they
experience, and how they cope when they are homeless? (3)
How do immigrant families exit homelessness, what kind of
housing do they find, and what factors or services are most
helpful in ending the homelessness of immigrant families?
(4) What policies and programs most effectively and efficiently
(a) prevent families from becoming homeless, (b) help homeless
families out of their homeless status more quickly, (c)
address issues relating to discrimination and racism to
the extent these pay a role in producing, maintaining, and
ending family homelessness?
Final report published in 2008, click here for a copy
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Homelessness, Crime,
and the
Criminal Justice System
Investigators:
David Hulchanski, PhD, Principal Investigator, Director,
Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto;
Joe Hermer, PhD, professor of sociology and criminology,
University of Toronto; Amber Kellen, John Howard Society
of Toronto
Research Coordinator:
Sylvia Novac, PhD, Centre for Urban
and Community Studies
Schedule: March
2004 to February 2005
Funder: National
Secretariat on Homelessness,
Government of Canada
Budget: $104,500
Description: This
research has three sets of research questions. (1) The size
of the problem: How many people with no fixed address in
Toronto are admitted to and released from police custody,
provincial court, and correctional facilities/detention
centres? How many people in homeless shelters have come
from correction facilities? (2) Best practices: What effective
service coordination strategies and types of post-incarceration
programs exist? What are the best practices? (3) The police,
homeless people, victimization and crime: What is the state
of relations between the police and homeless youth and adults?
How could relations be improved at the local level?
Final report published in 2006, click here for a copy (2MB PDF)
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Multidimensional
Impacts of Adequate Housing
Research team:
David Hulchanski and Valerie Tarasuk, University of Toronto;
George Tolomiczenko, St. Joseph’s Health Centre; Stephen
Hwang, St. Michael’s Hospital
Coordinator: Sylvia
Novac
Schedule: October
2002 to April 2004
Funder: City
of Toronto
Budget: $65,000
Description: This
multidisciplinary applied research project helped to identify,
in detail, the specific impacts of obtaining good-quality
adequate housing on previously inadequately housed and homeless
people. The findings were intended to make a practical contribution
to knowledge about the overlapping effects of housing satisfaction,
physical health, mental health, socio-economic stability,
and well-being among low-income and previously unhoused
people.
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Trends in Family
and Social Structure and their Impact on Health in India:
A Case Study of the Urban Poor in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Research team: David
Hulchanski and Usha George, University of Toronto; C.A.K.
Yesudian, Ramila Bisht, and N. Nakkeeran, Tata Institute
of Social Sciences
Coordinator: Seetharam
Mukkavilli
Schedule: July
2003 to June 2005
Funder: Shastri
Indo-Canadian Institute
Budget: $104,000
Description: This
research will investigate the changing family and social
structure in India, using the state of Madhya Pradesh as
a case study. The aim is to better understand the impact
of these changes on, and their policy and program implications
for, the health of the most vulnerable population groups
in urban areas. The goal of the research is to reduce urban
poverty and promote sustainable community development by
improving access to affordable good quality health care
for families living in urban slum conditions.
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Aging and Homelessness
Research team: Lynn
McDonald and David Hulchanski, University of Toronto
Coordinator: Sylvia
Novac
Schedule: December
2002 to August 2003
Funder: City
of Toronto
Budget:
$63,750
Description: Using
statistical data on older homeless persons in Toronto, interviews
with older homeless persons, and focus groups of key informants,
the researchers will work to understand the characteristics
of older people who are homeless; identify service and shelter
needs of older homeless people; and articulate policy, funding,
and service implications for the City, other levels of government,
and other community-based organizations.
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Who Will Build
the Liveable City? Planning culture, civil society, and
local environmental governance in Tokyo and Toronto
Investigators: Andre
Sorensen, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, Geography, University
of Toronto at Scarborough; Hideki Koizumi, Ph.D., Co-Investigator,
Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo
Schedule: Three
years, 2004-2007
Funder: Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Standard
Research Grant
Budget: $114,000
Description: The project will contribute
to theory building and knowledge mobilization by: establishing
the contours of civil society activity in two cities with
different planning cultures; providing insights into the
configurations of civil society actors that affect urban
change; allowing measurement of the political space available
for civil society actors; allowing an examination of the
planning governance structure from the point of view of
civil society actors who are attempting to engage it for
specific goals.
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Immigrants in
the Global Economy: Precarious Employment and the Transnational
Dimensions of Economic Incorporation
Research team: Luin
Goldring, York University; Patricia Landolt, University
of Toronto at Scarborough
Schedule: 2003–2006
Funder: Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Budget:
$235,000
Description: In
recent years, new immigrants to Canada have experienced
barriers to employment and upward mobility in the labour
market. The researchers will work to determine the effects
on the labour experiences of new immigrants of racialization,
economic restructuring, changing Canadian immigration policies,
and transnational connections between immigrants and their
homeland. The findings are intended to inform immigration
policy debates in Canada.
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The Rental Housing
Experience of
Salvadorean Refugees in Toronto
Research team: David
Hulchanski, Ken Dion, and Carlos Teixeira, University of
Toronto; Robert Murdie, York University
Coordinator: Sylvia
Novac
Community Partners: Dixon
Hall Community Centre, Jane-Finch Community and Family Centre
Schedule: August
2001 to May 2003
Funder: Joint
Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement
(CERIS), Toronto
Budget: $17,500
Description: This
research examined in detail how refugees obtain housing
in the Toronto rental market and how their housing status
changes over time. The researchers interviewed Salvadorean
refugees in Toronto to assess the how they obtained housing;
the degree to which their housing needs were met; the quality,
adequacy, and cost of housing they obtained; their level
of satisfaction with the housing and the neighbourhood;
perceptions of discrimination; and the degree to which their
housing situation improved over time. The results will contribute
to Canadian housing policy, social policy, and human rights
policy.
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Bolivia Sustainable Urban Development
Project
Principal Investigator:
Richard Stren, University of Toronto
Manager: Christie
Gombay
Schedule: January
1997-December 2001
Funder: CIDA
Budget: $4.9
million
Description: This
project was conducted at the request of the Bolivian government,
to help municipalities prepare and implement urban development
plans, and to help train planners in Bolivia. During this
project, 30 or more urban professionals were trained at
the Master’s level in Bolivia; three policy handbooks
were produced in Spanish; two substantial strategic plans
were produced; and a number of local community-level projects
were undertaken in Cochabamba and Tarija.
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The Global Urban Research Initiative
Coordinators: Richard
Stren and Patricia McCarney, University of Toronto
Schedule: 1991-1997
Funders: Ford
Foundation, World Bank, CIDA
Budget: $6,411,000
Cdn.
Description: The
network involved about 400 researchers, local activists,
and municipal policy professionals. In its first phase,
the network undertook a systematic overview of the findings
of urban research in the developing world; in the second
phase, the network was active in the Habitat II Conference
in Istanbul in 1996; and in the third phase, each of 12
subregional groups carried out research on municipal governance
reform. This final phase culminated in an international
meeting at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
in Washington, D.C., in November 1997.
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