Multiple Facets of Housing

Discrimination

Sutama Ghosh

York University

Housing Experiences of Immigrants and Refugees in Toronto• Newcomers struggle for affordable, adequate and suitable

housing• Discrimination

• Type: Institutional and Systemic• Discrimination along: Racial, linguistic, class (income and source of

income), and culture• “Real” “Perceived”• “Whites” (i.e., the Charter groups) discriminate against “Coloured”

people (i.e., the immigrants/refugees from non European countries)• Who Discriminates?

Housing Discrimination

Actors

Private Public

Private Landlords Real Estate AgentsPersons Allotting Social Housing

Immigration Agencies

The Case Study“We are Not All the Same”

The Differential Migration, Settlement Patterns, and Housing Trajectories of Indian Bengalis and Bangladeshis

in Toronto------------------------------------------------------------

Research Methods: Primary data:

16 key informant interviews through purposive sampling

60 semi-structured interviews with households in face to face situations. Households were selected through a reputational sampling method

Secondary data (e.g., census, LIDS)

Migration: When did the Indian Bengalis come to Canada?

Arrival of Indian Bengalis in Canada 1980-2001

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100

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80

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81

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82

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83

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89

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90

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91

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00

20

01

Indian Bengali Respondents at the Time of Arrival

• Young, highly educated, urban backgrounds • Engaged in “white” collar jobs in India : IT professionals• Small households• 19 out of 30 households came to Canada through an

immigration agency • Most (17 out of 30=89%) started their housing career by living

in a “guest house” arranged by the immigration agency

Why Use the Services of the Immigration Agency?

They told us [that] we would not be able to rent an apartment by ourselves…so, we should stay with them (Mrs. A. P.: 2003)

The “Guest House”

• Arranged by the agency often consisted of a three-bedroom rental apartment in a high-rise building

• The living room, kitchen and bathrooms were shared. Each household had its own bedroom

• For this accommodation (i.e., just one room in a shared apartment), the agency charged each household between $650 and $800 -- close to the cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto

ExploitationThe immigration agency painted all these rosy pictures…you don’t worry, just make the payments and [we] will do everything. What we found? Just devastating, just devastating…it was not a “guesthouse”, you know, it was a building…we were to share the apartment with two other families” (Mr. D. B.: 2003)

“They [meaning the building management] did nothing for the upkeep, the apartment was really dirty, [there were] cockroaches everywhere, bad plumbing” (Mr. S. Dn.: 2003)

You know, when we asked the agency to put us in another apartment building…they said…pay an additional $800 for the rest of the time…already half the month had passed, so I told him [meaning husband] we should simply bite the bullet and try to get out of there as soon as possible (Mrs. S. B.: 2003)

Now we know that we were really cheated when we came…they [immigration agent] took advantage of our ignorance (Mrs. A. B.: 2003)

Conclusions

• Need to recognize housing careers begin before the immigrants actually arrive in Canada

• Discrimination is not binary—”white” vs “coloured”—it involves multiple actors, at various stages of the housing careers

• Immigrant institutions may facilitate settlements, but these can be exploitative as well