{"id":70051,"date":"2025-03-20T08:15:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T12:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=70051"},"modified":"2025-03-18T16:37:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T20:37:44","slug":"torontos-affordable-housing-crisis-deja-vu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2025\/03\/20\/torontos-affordable-housing-crisis-deja-vu\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto\u2019s affordable housing crisis d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The lack of housing was so acute in Toronto in 1944 that the acting mayor, Robert H. Saunders, posted notices in newspapers warning families not to move to Toronto. This newspaper ad is included in an eye-opening exhibit at the City of Toronto Archives until March 27, 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?attachment_id=70054\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-70054\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-70054 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage-600x557.jpg\" alt=\"Newspaper ad about housing shortage\" width=\"600\" height=\"557\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage-600x557.jpg 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage-300x278.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage-768x712.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage-1536x1425.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage-1200x1113.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage-940x872.jpg 940w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/City-of-Toronto-Notice-of-Housing-Shortage.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The exhibit includes photos taken by <em>Globe &amp; Mail<\/em> photographers of a trailer park that sprang up in the 1930s and 1940s on a vacant lot on University Avenue and Gerrard Street within sight of Queen&#8217;s Park. The trailer park had its own streets and unofficial mayor. The lot on University Avenue has a fascinating history: it was the site of the house where Mary Pickford, the most popular and highest earning actress of the silent film era, spent the first years of her childhood. The block is now occupied by the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).<\/p>\n<p>Saunders, mayor of Toronto from 1945-48, and city council launched unsuccessful court orders to close down trailer parks on University and in other neighbourhoods. The lack of affordable housing was so bad in Toronto and its suburbs that desperate families had set up trailers in lanes off Queen Street West, in Long Branch, Weston Village and Scarborough\u2014wherever they could find vacant land.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Saunders\u2019 ad campaign and the city\u2019s lawsuits appear to have had little effect on closing down the trailer park on University Avenue. According to a City census dated April 17, 1947, there were 148 adults and 51 children living in trailers on University Avenue. They came from across Canada, \u00a0from Vancouver to Nova Scotia. There were veterans, war widows, students and some identified as \u201cin rehab,\u201d presumably wounded veterans receiving therapy at one of the nearby hospitals.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_70056\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70056\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?attachment_id=70056\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-70056\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-70056 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-plaque-600x800.jpeg\" alt=\"Plaque of pioneering actress and film executive Mary Pickford commemorate her childhood home at the site now occupied by SickKids Hospital on University Avenue. \" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-plaque-600x800.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-plaque-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-plaque-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-plaque-705x940.jpeg 705w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-plaque.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70056\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_70057\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70057\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?attachment_id=70057\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-70057\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-70057 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-statue_SickKids-600x726.jpeg\" alt=\"Plaque and statue of pioneering actress and film executive Mary Pickford commemorate her childhood home at the site now occupied by SickKids Hospital on University Avenue. \" width=\"600\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-statue_SickKids-600x726.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-statue_SickKids-248x300.jpeg 248w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-statue_SickKids-768x929.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-statue_SickKids-777x940.jpeg 777w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Mary-Pickford-statue_SickKids.jpeg 1058w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70057\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plaque and statue of pioneering actress and film executive Mary Pickford commemorate her childhood home at the site now occupied by SickKids Hospital on University Avenue. Contrary to the plaque\u2019s text, most sources give the date of her birth as 1892. (Ian Darragh photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>City archivists Sarah Carson and Jessica Algie\u00a0told me the archives has a banker\u2019s box full of letters about the trailer park controversy, and showed me how to request them via a vertical conveyor belt from the depth of the archives. I was given a pair of white gloves and spent several hours reading in fascination the faded, torn and tattered letters to and from the Mayor of Toronto that have been preserved for posterity. Some were in elegant cursive hand-writing; others were typewritten. (These letters have been lightly edited for length.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>March 26, 1946:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cDear Mayor Saunders:\u00a0 My big beef is your attitude re trailers and their occupants, of which I am one. Many married veterans, myself included, are here taking university and college courses through benefits received from the Dept. of Veteran\u2019s Affairs. On our arrival many could not find rooms\u2026. I am not apologizing for living in a trailer. I am proud of the fact that my wife and I had the resourcefulness to make the best out of an impossible situation.\u201d \u2014E.H. Daniels,\u00a0 577 University Ave., Toronto.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_70058\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70058\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?attachment_id=70058\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-70058\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-70058 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-600x597.jpg\" alt=\"City of Toronto archivist Sarah Carson points to an overview photo of the University Avenue trailer park dated May 1943. She researched six of the properties featured in the exhibit. \" width=\"600\" height=\"597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-600x597.jpg 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-768x765.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-1536x1529.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-1200x1195.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-940x936.jpg 940w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-62x62.jpg 62w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Sarah-Carson_City-of-Toronto-Archives_version-2.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70058\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">City of Toronto archivist Sarah Carson points to an overview photo of the University Avenue trailer park dated May 1943. She researched six of the properties featured in the exhibit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_70060\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70060\" style=\"width: 2200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?attachment_id=70060\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-70060\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-70060 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave.jpg\" alt=\"CAn unidentified family invited a Globe &amp; Mail photographer inside their home to demonstrate that the trailers were neat, cozy and suitable for children (City of Toronto Archives).\" width=\"2200\" height=\"1626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave.jpg 2200w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave-600x443.jpg 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave-768x568.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave-1536x1135.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave-2048x1514.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave-1200x887.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/Family-inside-their-trailer_University-Ave-940x695.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2200px) 100vw, 2200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70060\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An unidentified family invited a Globe &amp; Mail photographer inside their home to demonstrate that the trailers were neat, cozy and suitable for children (City of Toronto Archives).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>March 28, 1947:<\/strong> \u201cDear Mayor Saunders: The trailer we make is of solid aluminum outside, insulated and comes completely equipped to house a family of four in any sort of weather, winter or summer\u2026. Ninety percent of the trailers we are manufacturing are being used for housing, but unfortunately the City of Toronto and suburbs seem to have taken an unwarranted dislike to the idea of trailer camps. It is our belief that we could make a real contribution to the housing condition in Toronto if the City would establish a decent trailer camp.\u201d \u2014John Inglis Co. Ltd., 14 Strachan Ave., Toronto.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April 2, 1947:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cMayor Saunders: No one seems to want us, mainly if we have children. In fact, a good many of us do not want to live in trailers, yet where are we to go? Our kiddies have no proper place to play. How about making some provision for them at least? Like some of the others here, I was born, educated and brought up here, but our own city does not want such people.\u201d \u2013 Mrs. F. Walker, Jr.,\u00a0 577 University Ave., Toronto.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_70061\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70061\" style=\"width: 2500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?attachment_id=70061\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-70061\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-70061\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park.jpg\" alt=\"Premiers of Ontario would have passed by the University Avenue trailer park on their way to Queen\u2019s Park in the 1930s and 1940s (Ian Darragh photo). \" width=\"2500\" height=\"1555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park.jpg 2500w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-600x373.jpg 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-768x478.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-1536x955.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-2048x1274.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-1200x746.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-940x585.jpg 940w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-225x140.jpg 225w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/University-and-Gerrard-looking-north_Queen_s-Park-450x280.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70061\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Premiers of Ontario would have passed by the University Avenue trailer park on their way to Queen\u2019s Park in the 1930s and 1940s (Ian Darragh photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>April 16, 1947<\/strong>. \u201cMrs. F. Walker, Jr.:\u00a0 We have no objection to the use of trailers on properly located sites with necessary facilities, but we do not think that the University site you refer to is a desirable one for this purpose as adequate facilities are lacking. We have received innumerable complaints about the operation of this trailer camp in the midst of a built-up area of the city. Any impartial observer must admit that is not a suitable location and particularly that sanitary conditions are not at all satisfactory. It must be remembered too that the municipality is not responsible for the establishment of trailer camps, although a special committee as been set up to study this proposal\u2026\u201d \u2014Mayor Robert H. Saunders, Esq., CBE, KC, City Hall.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sept. 23, 1947:<\/strong> \u201cDear Mayor Saunders: A resolution was passed at the Toronto Labour Council meeting last night condemning the Board of Control and City Council for its inaction in solving the problems of the trailer camp residents on University Avenue. While we do not argue that trailers are an ideal place in which to live and raise families, the Council does realize that there is a serious shortage of houses, and while this shortage exists various forms of temporary accommodation that in normal times would be unnecessary will have to be used.\u201d \u2014Dave Archer, Secretary-Treasurer, Toronto Labour Council.<\/p>\n<p>Despite many attempts over a span of many years, Toronto City Council was unable to evict families from the University Avenue trailer park. Its residents received widespread support from religious leaders, veterans\u2019 groups and unions. \u00a0The trailer park finally closed when construction began on the new building for the Hospital for Sick Children on University and Gerrard in 1949.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_70062\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-70062\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?attachment_id=70062\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-70062\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-70062 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/One-room-mobile-cabin_SvN-Architects-Planners-600x800.jpeg\" alt=\"Mobile cabin with lights, heating and air conditioning was designed by SvN Architects and Planners as a flexible, low-cost solution to the affordable housing crisis in cities. Two cabins can be joined to create a dwelling for couples. The concept of mobile cabins harkens back to the trailers that appeared in Toronto and its suburbs during the housing crisis of the 1940s. (Ian Darragh photo)\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/One-room-mobile-cabin_SvN-Architects-Planners-600x800.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/One-room-mobile-cabin_SvN-Architects-Planners-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/One-room-mobile-cabin_SvN-Architects-Planners-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/One-room-mobile-cabin_SvN-Architects-Planners-705x940.jpeg 705w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/One-room-mobile-cabin_SvN-Architects-Planners.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-70062\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mobile cabin with lights, heating and air conditioning designed by SvN Architects and Planners as a flexible, low-cost solution to the affordable housing crisis in cities. Two cabins can be joined to create a dwelling for couples. The concept of mobile cabins harkens back to the trailers that appeared in Toronto and its suburbs during the housing crisis of the 1940s. (Ian Darragh photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The theme of \u201cIf These Walls Could Talk\u201d is that each house and apartment has a story to tell: the architect who designed it; the builder who constructed it; and the families that made it their home through the years. The Archives provides resources to help visitors research the history of their house.<\/p>\n<p>One irony is that the most fascinating story featured in the exhibit doesn\u2019t literally fit into its stated theme. Unlike the 1868 gothic mansion built by Arthur McMaster, now the Keg Steakhouse Mansion at 515 Jarvis, or the Bain Apartments Cooperative at 100 Bain Avenue featured in the exhibit, there is no physical trace of the large trailer park that once stood in the shadow of Queen\u2019s Park. However, including the University Avenue trailer park in the exhibit allowed the curators to highlight a pressing social issue that has dogged Toronto for more than a century, and to hint at a short-term solution until enough affordable apartments and duplexes can be constructed. A number of architects and builders have taken up the challenge to design temporary emergency options for the unhoused, such as John van Nostrand of SvN Architects and Planners and the non-profit organization Two Steps Home.<\/p>\n<p>If you have family members who lived in the University Avenue trailer park you can search for the name of your relative in the census displayed in the exhibit. Please share your story by posting a note at the bottom of this article, and send photos or letters to the City of Toronto Archives (email: archives@toronto.ca).<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIf These Walls Could Talk: Researching the History of Where You Live\u201d<\/strong> is a free exhibit at the City of Toronto Archives open until March 27, 2025; 255 Spadina Road, Toronto, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. \u2013 4 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><em>Ian Darragh has volunteered with Heritage Toronto as a guide and photographer. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lack of housing was so acute in Toronto in 1944 that the acting mayor, Robert H. Saunders, posted notices in newspapers warning families not to move to Toronto. This newspaper ad is included in an eye-opening exhibit at the City of Toronto Archives until March 27, 2025. The exhibit includes photos taken by Globe<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2025\/03\/20\/torontos-affordable-housing-crisis-deja-vu\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Toronto\u2019s affordable housing crisis d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8523,"featured_media":70052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-housing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Toronto\u2019s affordable housing crisis d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2025\/03\/20\/torontos-affordable-housing-crisis-deja-vu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toronto\u2019s affordable housing crisis d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The lack of housing was so acute in Toronto in 1944 that the acting mayor, Robert H. Saunders, posted notices in newspapers warning families not to move to Toronto. This newspaper ad is included in an eye-opening exhibit at the City of Toronto Archives until March 27, 2025. 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