The Late 1980s Crisis in Toronto Public Housing

David M. K. Sheinin’s series of articles on Toronto public housing in the late 1980s. The first article introduces the series then focuses on disability and public housing. The next addresses a new social role for the Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority (MTHA) that included providing breakfast for children in need and mounting after-school programs on MTHA properties. Others consider tenant advocacy and problems in public housing in the Jane-Finch neighborhood. To protect their privacy, initials substitute for the names of residents who are or may still be alive. Language used on “disability” reflects terminology used in the 1980s.

Part 1 – Disability and Danger

Part 2 – Helter Skelter: Dreams and Disappointments in Social Service Programming at Toronto Public Housing in the late 1980s

Part 3 – Consultant Woes, Community Relations Worker Doubts, and Bureaucratic Stasis at Toronto Public Housing in the late 1980s

Part 4 – A Perception of Learned Helplessness: The Jane-Finch Neighborhood Versus Pessimism and Conflict at Toronto Public Housing

Part 5 – “Encouraging the Behaviour We Want to Encourage”: Faded Promises of Security in Toronto Public Housing