A History of St. James Town
St. James Town began in the 1870's as a desirable upper middle class neighbourhood. It was filled with picturesque Victorian houses and remained popular with Toronto home buyers until well into the 1900's (Toronto Neighbourhoods, 2003)
A turning point for the St. James Town neighbourhood occurred in 1953 when the city of Toronto announced major zoning amendments for the downtown core. The new zoning significantly increased building coverage in St. James Town making it an instant target for private developers. By the end of the 1950's a consortium of private developers had bought up and demolished St. James Town's entire housing stock in order to build Toronto's first high rise residential apartment towers.
The arrival of new construction technologies combined with rising land prices encouraged developers to engage in high-density site planning by constructing high-rise apartment buildings allowing for a large return on a small property. This kind of residential planning proved to be economically viable in single building projects as in multi-structure developments built over several city blocks. The arrival of Toronto's subway system in 1954 had a special impact on this type of development, triggering the construction of several pockets of high rise development along its route (City of Toronto, 2003)
Presently, St. James Town is a high turnover community that is often viewed as a place from which people :move up". Newcomers to Canada make up a large portion of the population. SJ^T turnover rate is approximately 62% every 5 years (1996 Census data), as new immigrants settle and move on. The transitional nature of this community is often seen as a negative feature that contributes to social disorganization within this neighbourhood. However, this community's fluidity also contributes to the cultural diversity of the neighbourhood that is reflected in many of the resources and services that are offered there (e.g. home based informal child-care systems, culturally based organizations etc.) The family income of residents is 41% below the Toronto average and currently more than 12.4% are unemployed with a high proportion on social assistance and only 35% of the families speaking English in the home (Toronto Neighbourhoods, 2003; 1996 census data)
St. James Town contains eighteen high rise apartment buildings, almost seven thousand units, and over 15000 residents, in an area of 32.1 acres. St. James Town's population increased 23% over the past 15 years. As such, St. James Town is the most densely populated neighbourhood in Canada. Yet no new housing units have been built to accommodate this community's rapid population growth. St. James Town is made up of fourteen privately owned buildings, and four apartment buildings that are owned my Metro Toronto Housing Corporation. These buildings offer typical market place rents that many residents consider "over-priced" for what they "have to put up with" (St. James Town focus group, 2003) The other four city owned apartment buildings offer rents geared towards income (Toronto Neighbourhoods, 2003)
According to some of the participants in our urban health St. James Town focus group, having rent geared to one's income prevents residents from being able to save for better housing. Many of these buildings are :rundown" and "unsafe" buildings that are unable to cope with its capacity. This evidenced by long waits for elevators, overflowing garbage disposals, faulty electrical systems, and plumbing that frequently breaks down. (St. James Town neighbourhood Walk, 2003)
St. James Town's high-rise apartment buildings were built as an experimental design in the 1960's for single upwardly mobile singles and young couples. Some refer to the original design as "yuppie utopia". This neighbourhood was not originally designed to house children. In fact when the high-rise apartment buildings first replaced the Victorian houses, it was against the law for children to live in St. James Town. Perhaps this explains why city planners did not original see the need for children's resources such as parks, playgrounds or a local day-care centre.
The lack of "safe places" for children to play concerns many residents of St. James Town, particularly when drug dealers have taken over many sites that may be used for parkettes or playgrounds (Carey, 2003) Consequently many parents restrict their children to the home or their apartment buildings. Many families in this community rarely venture outside of their apartment building to take advantage of services that are being offered locally. Therefore the services that are being offered in this neighbourhood , (e.g. after-4 programs, mother-tot drop-ins, youth centre and parenting classes), do not always reach the people who need them (Carey, 2003). While many community workers recognize the need for additional resources, many are concerned that programs created and run by "outsiders" who do not consider the unique features of this multicultural, multilingual, densely populated community may further isolate this neighbourhood's under serviced population
A number of community needs assessments undertaken in 1988, 1990 and 1996 for St. James Town and the surrounding area have confirmed that this area is significantly in need of additional community facilities. In September of 1997 the former City of Toronto council approved St. James Town 2000: A Community Action Plan which aims to revitalize St. James Town through initiatives such as building of a multi-service community centre (subsequently built) , improvement in parks, and the maintenance and repair of St. James Town buildings. The Action Plan is a revitalization strategy that focuses on an integrated planning approach that includes service coordination, and partnerships, maximization of space and resources and responsiveness to a changing population
From Healthy Communities in Toronto: An Investigation of Three neighbourhoods in the Greater Metropolitan Area
A class project of Sociology 394Y, University of Toronto