Right now, Amal Ahmed can walk to her classes at Ryerson University or to her baby daughter’s doctor appointments. Her mother attends a women’s group at the health centre down the street, and she can rely on her longtime neighbours in Regent Park.
In the fall, all that could change for the 26-year-old single mother and hundreds of other residents who are being relocated during the third phase of redevelopment of the downtown Toronto Community Housing complex.
On the list of available three-bedroom TCHC units distributed last week, most are miles away in Scarborough: Finch and Victoria Park, Danforth and Warden, Sheppard and Morningside. Others are near Kingsway and Queensway, or Dixon and Islington in Etobicoke.
Just one, near Bathurst and Queens Quay, is even close to home. Some four-bedroom units on the list are as far away as Jane and Finch. For Ahmed, who has lived in Regent Park for 14 years, commuting for the three and a half years it will take to build the new units will be nearly impossible.
“We have mosques here, we have daycare here, we have home care, the doctor’s here. Everything is accessible. The majority of people that are being relocated are single mothers; we don’t drive, our university is right over here,” said Ahmed, who is one year away from completing her nursing degree.
“For us to be uprooted and told to assimilate, even if it’s just temporarily, we feel like it’s unfair.”
She will have to leave her townhouse on the eastern edge of Regent Park just days before her final year of classes begins. And by the time she returns, 1-year-old Anzel will be enrolled in school.
READ MORE
http://ift.tt/1kvCxOh
No comments:
Post a Comment