Built in the 1940s, Regent Park is Canada’s oldest and largest social housing project. Over the past decade, the neighbourhood has undergone a lot of change as part of a major transformation to abandon the old model of social housing, to improve the economic and social outcomes of existing residents, and to introduce mixed income and mixed use development in the area.
Our site visit was led by the fabulous Barry Thomas. Barry has worked with Toronto Community Housing (TCH) for 10 years and has been the Operating Unit Manager at Regent Park for 8 years. Barry Thomas showed us around the neighbourhood and told us about the development of Regent Park. He took us through the new buildings and into important community landmarks, including a basement mosque and makeshift grocery store.
Read more in our blog post and Spacing Article.