Principal Investigator:
Craig E. Jones (Research Coordinator, School of Community and Regional Planning, The University of British Columbia)
Co-Investigators:
Andrea Craig (Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia – Okanagan),
Silas Xuereb (Master’s Student, Vancouver School of Economics, The University of British Columbia)
Forced displacement can lead to growing housing precarity and residential instability for low-income tenants (Desmond et al, 2015) and potentially result in homelessness. In his study of evictions data in Toronto from 1999-2001, Chum (2015) found that there is a significant relationship between gentrification and evictions. However, the role that evictions play as a mechanism of financialized and gentrification-induced displacement has generally been underappreciated (Sims, 2016; Chum, 2015). Evictions are a rich source of data due to its geographic and temporal dimensions, which offer researchers the opportunity to uncover whether any spatial concentrations exist (Sims, 2016). In understanding the prevalence and geographic concentrations of evictions, we can better understand the larger processes that give rise to urban displacement. Further, gaining a better understanding of evictions can inform more effective eviction prevention strategies, which can help in the preservation of existing affordable housing.
In this project we will model relationships between socio-economic and ethnicity variables and forced moves as captured in the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey. We will spatially examine those variables where forced moves make up a larger proportion of total moves.
The project will address the following research questions:
- Are socio-economic, household composition, sexual orientation, experiences of homelessness, economic hardship, and ethnicity variables (among others) collected in the Canadian Housing Survey (CHS) correlated with forced moves?
- Do the strength of observed relationships vary spatially? Are there differences between provinces, or in urban or rural areas?
- Are forced moves correlated with negative outcomes, or differences, in regards to various measures of satisfaction, economic hardship, or civic engagement?