Toronto: My City, My Neighbourhood, My Home

Toronto, ONTARIO - Toronto is known as a city of neighbourhoods, but how do Torontonians actually feel about their own neighbourhood? According to new findings from series of surveys on the views of Torontonians and conducted by Ipsos-Reid and on behalf of the Globe and Mail, CFTO, and Newstalk 1010 CFRB, and released today, one in four (24%) Toronto residents feel their own neighbourhood is a better place to live today than it was five years ago. Just slightly less (21%), however, feel their own neighbourhood is actually a worse place to live than in 1998, while 44% believe it is about the same.

Further, Torontonians appear to be attached to feel comfortable in the city. In fact, nine in ten (92%) agree that they "feel at home in Toronto". In fact, two in three (67%) Torontonians strongly agree. A mere 7% indicate that they disagree with this view.

Despite the reputation of Toronto being a community of neighbourhoods, making new friends in the big city is apparently a challenge for many. In fact, four in ten (40%) Torontonians feel that it is hard to make new friends in Toronto - but interestingly, an almost identical proportion (43%) of the population agrees with the statement, "I would like to get together with some of my neighbours, but never have."

However, when asked how often in a typical week respondents do a number of different social things, having a conversation with a neighbour comes out on top as the most frequent activity asked about, with an average of about 5 times per week (mean 5.1 times), followed by taking public transit (mean 3.6 times), getting stuck in traffic (mean 3.5 times), going for an evening walk in the neighbourhood (mean 3.4 times), going to a restaurant for dinner (mean 1.3 times), going out for coffee or sitting in a coffee shop (1.6 times) and finally, going to the movies, live theatre or cultural or sports events in the city (mean 0.9 times).

In addition to the number of times Toronto residents go out to do social things, we also wanted to get a sense of their other daily activities, such as commuting to work or school and it would appear that use of public transit is up over the last decade with the use of cars down. Among the 85% of Toronto residents who report commuting (excludes those who do not work or who work at home), public transit appears to be the form of transportation most favoured (45%, up from 35% in 1992 when an identical question was asked), followed by driving themselves (38%, down from 52% in 1992), car-pooling (4%), walking (4%), biking (3%), or some combination (3%).

As for how long they actually spend commuting one way to work, the average is just over a half hour (31.2 minutes). When broken down, commuting by public transit takes longer (36 minutes) on average than commuting by car or as part of a car pool (21 minutes).

Delving further into some suggestions as to how to provide new avenues of financial support for the TTC, an increase cost to metered parking by 25 cents per hour and dedicating this money to a new TTC fund is supported by 59% of Torontonians. Almost as many (54%) support the idea of adding $3 to each parking ticket with this additional money being dedicated to a new TTC fund. Less popular (38% support) of the three suggestions posited is to copy the idea of a `congestion fee' as is currently done in London, England. In this scenario, drivers would be charged a fee of $40 per month to drive into downtown Toronto between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays.

A cornerstone of Toronto neighbourhoods has traditionally been the local school. It is where community meetings are usually held, where children play after school and on weekends and where most of Torontonians send their children each day. After years of change in the education system, how do Torontonians feel about their neighbourhood public schools? One in three (35%) Toronto residents, in fact, feel that the public schools in their neighbourhood are worse than they were five years ago. This compares to just 12% who believe their local public schools are better off, and 33% who say they are about the same as they were five years ago. While one-third of Torontonians feel their local public schools are worse off now than in 1998, a larger proportion (42%) share the view that the provincial education curriculum is worse now that it was five years ago. An equal proportion feels that the curriculum is better (21%) or the same (21%) as it was five years ago.

And finally, Toronto has always been known as a tight housing market, and Toronto residents appear to endorse this view. In total, seven in ten (70%) Torontonians disagree with the view that "there is enough affordable housing in this city". In fact, half (51%) strongly disagree. A further 19% somewhat disagree with this viewpoint for a total of 70% who do not think that there is enough affordable housing in the city. In comparison, one in four (26% - 9% strongly) agrees that there is enough affordable housing in Toronto.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Globe and Mail/CFTO/CFRB poll conducted between August 21st and August 24th, 2003. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 500 adult residents of the City of Toronto. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population of the City of Toronto been polled. The margin of error will be larger for sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's age/sex/household income composition reflects that of the actual adult population of the City of Toronto according to the 2001 Census data.

One in four (24%) Torontonians believes their own neighbourhood is a better place to live now than it was five years ago, while just slightly less (21%), feel their own neighbourhood is actually a worse place to live now than it was in 1998. Four in ten (44%) believe it is about the same as it was in 1998.

• Younger adult Torontonians (18 to 34 years of age) (30%) are more likely than are older Torontonians (55+ years of age) (17%) to feel that their neighbourhood is a better place to live now than 5 years ago, while older Torontonians (29%) are more likely than are their young adult (14%) counterparts to say it is worse than 5 years ago.

Further, Torontonians appear to be attached to feel comfortable in the city. In fact, nine in ten (92% - 67% strongly) agree that they "feel at home in Toronto". In fact, two in three (67%) Torontonians strongly agree. A mere 7% indicate that they disagree with this view.

• Older (79%) Torontonians are more likely to say the strongly agree that they feel at home in Toronto than do middle aged (64%) or young adult (57%) residents of the city.

• Not surprising, longer term residents (11+ years) (74%) are more likely to strongly agree with this sentiment than are newer residents (6 to 10 years 51%; up to 5 years 49%).

Like most other large cities, developing new friends can be a challenge. When asked about this, four in ten (40%) Torontonians feel that it is hard to make new friends in Toronto. Just over one in ten (14%) strongly agrees with this position. However, six in ten (59%) disagree.

• Newer residents (53%) are more likely to agree that it is hard to make new friends in Toronto than longer-term residents (38%).

• In addition, renters (47%) are more likely to agree that it is hard to make new friends in Toronto, than are those who own their homes (34%).

Interestingly, almost an identical proportion (43% - 15% strongly) of the population agrees with the statement, "I would like to get together with some of my neighbours, but never have." In total, 55% disagree with this statement.

• Young adult Torontonians (51%) are more likely than older Torontonians (32%) to agree that this is the case.

• This sentiment is also more likely to be held by those who have lived in Toronto for 5 years or less (59%) than by longer-term residents (39%).

• Renters (50%) are also more likely than homeowners (36%) to agree with this position.

However, when asked how often in a typical week respondents do a number of different social things, "having a conversation with a neighbour" comes out on top as the most frequent activity asked about, with an average of about 5 times per week (mean 5.1 times), followed by taking public transit (mean 3.6 times), getting stuck in traffic (mean 3.5 times), going for an evening walk in the neighbourhood (mean 3.4 times), going to a restaurant for dinner (mean 1.3 times), going out for coffee or sitting in a coffee shop (1.6 times) and finally, going to the movies, live theatre or cultural or sports events in the city (mean 0.9 times).

• Older residents (mean 7.7 times) are the most likely to have a conversation with a neighbour. This compares to the averages of middle aged (mean 5.1 times) and young adult (mean 2.9 times). Older residents (mean 4.5 times) are also more likely than their young adult (mean 3.0 times) or middle-aged (mean 2.9 times) counterparts to go for an evening walk in their neighbourhood.

• Homeowners (mean 6.1 times) are more likely to have a conversation with a neighbour than are renters (mean 4.1 times).

• Long-term Torontonians (mean 6.0 times) are more likely to have a conversation with a neighbour than those who have lived in Toronto for shorter periods of time (6 to 10 years 3.8 times, up to 5 years 2.4 times).

• Renters (mean 4.7 times) are more likely to take public transit than homeowners (mean 2.6 times).

In addition to the number of times Toronto residents go out to do social things recently, we also wanted to get a sense of their other daily activities, such as commuting to work or school. Among the 85% of Toronto residents who report commuting (excludes those who do not work or who work at home), public transit appears to be the form of transportation most favoured (45%), followed by driving themselves (38%), car-pooling (4%), walking (4%), biking (3%), or some combination (3%). In comparison, when asked in 1992, driving themselves (52%) was the preferred mode of transportation followed by public transit (35%).

• Renters (55%) are more likely than homeowners (55%) to say they commute to work by public transit, while homeowners (56%) are more likely to drive themselves or car-poll to work than renters (27%).

• Young adult commuters (53%) in Toronto are more likely than their middle aged (43%) or older (35%) counterparts to say they take public transit to commute to work, while the opposite trend is true regarding driving or car-pooling to work. Older (52%) and middle aged (45%) commuters are more likely to drive or car-pool than are young adult commuters (31%).

• Commuters from lower income households (60%) are more likely than their counterparts in middle (42%) or upper (35%) income households to say they usually commute to work by public transit. This compares to the proportions that drive or car-pool (lower income households 22%; middle income households 45%; upper income households 53%).

As for how long they actually spend commuting one way to work, the average is just over a half hour (31.2 minutes). When broken down, commuting by public transit takes longer (36 minutes) on average than commuting by car or as part of a car pool (21 minutes).

• The average commute for middle aged (32.3 minutes) and young adult (31.6 minutes) Torontonians is approximately 5 minutes longer than for older commuters (26.9 minutes).

• Commuters from upper income households (mean 27.1 minutes) have, on average, a shorter commute to work than do those in middle (mean 32.7 minutes) and lower (mean 34.2 minutes) income households.

• Renters (33.4 minutes) have a longer average commute to work than homeowners (28.5 minutes).

Delving further into some issues regarding ways to provide local financial support for the TTC by way of designated funds, a suggested increase to metered parking of 25 cents per hour and dedicate this money to a new TTC fund is supported by 59% of Torontonians. Almost as many (54%) support the idea that $3 be added to each parking ticket and that this additional money be dedicated to a new TTC fund. The least popular (38% support) of the three suggestions is to copy the idea of a `congestion fee' as is currently done in London, England. In this scenario, drivers would be charged a fee of $40 per month to drive into downtown Toronto between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. A plurality (44%) strongly disagrees with this last suggestion.

• Torontonians who commute by public transit are more likely than those who drive or car-pool to support each of the proposals. The highest level of support is for increasing metered parking (public transit 66%; car/car-pool 55%), followed by increasing parking tickets (public transit 59%; car/car-pool 49%) and introducing a $40 `congestion fee' (public transit 42%; car/car-pool 32%). In fact, two-thirds of those who commute to work by car or as part of a car-pool (65%) oppose this suggestion.

• Torontonians from the highest income households are more likely to agree with the propositions to increase the cost of metered parking (69% versus 52% from the lowest income households), increase parking tickets (66% versus 49% from the lowest income households), and to introduce a $40 `congestion fee' (46% versus 31% from middle income households).

• Young adults are more likely than their middle aged or older counterparts to support increasing parking ticket fines (young 62%; middle aged 48%; older 53%) and the introduction of a $40 `congestion fee' (young 51%; middle aged 30%; older 35%).

Turning to local schools, one in three (35%) Toronto residents, feels that the public schools in their neighbourhood are worse today then they were five years ago. This compares to just 12% who believe their local public schools are better off, and 33% who say they are about the same as they were five years ago.

• Torontonians with children in primary or secondary school (41%) are slightly more likely than those without children in school (34%) to believe their local public schools are worse off than they were 5 years ago.

• Older residents (42%) are more likely than either their young adult (34%) or middle-aged (31%) counterparts to believe things are worse off at their local public schools.

• Torontonians from the highest income households (40%) are more likely than those in the lowest income households (27%) to believe that their local public schools are worse off than they were five years ago.

While many Torontonians feel that their local public schools are worse off today than in 1998, a larger proportion (42%) shares this view that the provincial education curriculum si worse today than it was five years ago. An equal proportion feels that the curriculum is better (21%) or the same (21%) as it was five years ago.

• Torontonians without children 17 years of age or younger in the household (45%) are more likely than those with children in the household (34%) to feel that the provincial education curriculum is worse now than it was five years ago, while those with children living under their roof (28%) are more likely than those without children living with them (18%) to feel the provincial curriculum is better.

• Torontonians who are 55 years of age or older (50%) are more likely than are those between 18 and 54 (39%) to believe that the provincial curriculum is worse now than it was five years ago.

• Women (48%) are more likely than men (36%) to believe that the education curriculum is worse now that it was five years ago.

• Torontonians who were born in Canada (48%) are more likely than those who were not born in Canada (36%) to feel that the curriculum is worse now than five years ago, while those not born in Canada (26%) are more likely than those born in Canada (16%) to say that the curriculum is better.

And finally, seven in ten (70%) Torontonians disagree with the view that "there is enough affordable housing in this city". In fact, half (51%) strongly disagree. A further 19% somewhat disagree with this viewpoint for a total of 70% who do not think that there is enough affordable housing in the city. In comparison, one in four (26% - 9% strongly) agrees that there is enough affordable housing in Toronto.

• While a majority within all three age groups feel that there is not enough affordable housing in Toronto, older (81%) residents of the city are more likely to feel this way than are young adults (66%) or middle aged (64%) residents.

• Women (78%) are more likely to believe that there is not enough affordable housing in Toronto than men (61%). In fact, one in three men (34%) feels that there is enough affordable housing in Toronto, compared to one in five (19%) of women who share this view.

• Interestingly, there is no statistical difference among household income groups or between renters and homeowners regarding this topic.

• Longer-term residents (73%) are more likely than newcomers (58%) to feel that there is not enough affordable housing in Toronto.

Please open the attached PDF documents to view the complete release and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900