One in four children in Toronto is living in poverty, according to a new report
Nine of the city’s 25 wards have child poverty rates of 30 per cent or more
Social Planning Toronto has released its Child and Family Poverty Report Card, which found that across the city, one in four children is growing up in poverty.
In its report, compiled using the latest available taxfiler data from 2023, the non-profit community organization noted that child poverty in Toronto is increasing, with the highest child and family poverty rate among cities with populations over 500,000—Winnipeg ranked second, with Peel third.
“These inequities are driven by multiple factors, including the rising cost of living, inadequate income supports, barriers to stable and well-paying employment, economic growth that has not benefited everyone and limited access to affordable child care,” said the report. “These conditions have lasting impacts on children’s health, education, and long-term opportunities, potentially reinforcing cycles of disadvantage across generations.”
In addition to more general conclusions, Social Planning Toronto also compiled data based on individual city wards. Out of 25 wards, nine have child poverty rates of 30 per cent or more.
Toronto Centre’s rate of child poverty is the highest in the city, with 36.1 per cent of children living below the poverty line, followed by Humber River—Black Creek (35 per cent) and Scarborough—Guildwood (34 per cent).
The report provided three recommendations for the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government: ensure livable incomes and inclusive economic development practices, implement a rights-based approach to basic needs and affordability, and renew the focus on poverty reduction and systemic inequality.
“The most important policy levers to address these challenges sit with the provincial and federal governments,” Jin Huh, the organization’s executive director, said in a press release accompanying the report. “The City of Toronto has introduced and expanded some really great poverty reduction initiatives in recent years—including TTC fare capping, an expansion of the student nutrition program so it reaches all 330,000 students across Toronto schools this year, supports for renters, and creating purpose-built affordable and supportive housing—but responding to this crisis will require income supports and investments in social infrastructure at a scale only senior levels of government can provide.”
Related: A dystopian report says Torontonians should earn $86,000 to comfortably rent a one-bedroom
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
