Windsor is the most economically polarized urban area in Canada, with more than a third of the residents in the city’s core neighborhoods living far below the poverty line.
According to to an article in the Windsor Star by Claire Brownell, data released by Statistics Canada Wednesday show that Windsor, as a whole, isn’t any worse off financially than the rest of Canada. Despite the the recession, the median after-tax employment income for a Windsor family in 2010 was about $66,000, just $1,000 less than the median for Canada.
However, a map showing income distribution in the Windsor region demonstrates that any family making that much money is highly unlikely to be living in the city’s core. At least 30 per cent of the people living in almost every neighborhood bordering the Detroit River, from the west end to Ford City, made less than half of the median after-tax income — about $19,500 for a single person.
Lorraine Goddard, the senior director of community impact at the United Way Windsor-Essex, said the data confirms what the charitable agency has known for a long time. Windsor’s cheap housing prices mean people with good jobs can afford to move out of the inner city, a choice people living in poverty don’t have.
“We certainly see what’s happened across the river. Neighborhoods are decimated. I’m not proposing that that’s our future, but we’ve seen it happen,” she said. “Let’s face it — most people want to live in a nice neighborhood. But when you’re living with less than $19,000 per year, you don’t have choice. It’s survival.”
