A Life Course Perspective on

Housing Stability and Evictions

AGE FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES IN ONTARIO: MULTI-LEVEL

GOVERNANCE,COORDINATION CHALLENGES AND POLICY
IMPLICATIONS.

The Problem:
The scarcity of affordable housing is a severe problem
confronting governments in all developed economies
(Bunting, Walks, & Filion, 2004; Purdy, 2003, p. 21).

Rea et al., (2008) estimate that 28 percent of Canadians

ever (at least a one year period, 2002-2004) exceeded
the traditional affordability benchmark of 30 percent of
income spent on housing;
Housing affordability is usually evidenced in hidden
and absolute homelessness, and by the rise in evictions
(Beer & Paris, 2005).
Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

Rationale:

There is little known about how eviction transitions play out over a life
time or how the transitions are linked to changes in work, education and
family or the influence of policy.

The majority of studies have been cross-sectional with different outcomes

that present a different picture when compared to longitudinal studies;
- 8.6 percent of Canadians lived in households that persistently
exceeded the affordability benchmark for all three years compared to the
28 percent described in cross-sections over the same time period (Rea et
al., 2008).

Longitudinal Studies (Sweden- Stenberg et al., 1995; Britain - Boheim &

Taylor, 2000; Canada - Rea et al., (2008)

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

Purpose:
An exploratory project using a life course
perspective to examine the impacts of the
eviction process on those housed in
Toronto, Canada.
Match eviction policy and life course
experiences

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

Theory: Life Course Perspective

(Elder, 2006)
Used 5 principles:
- developmental trajectories, time, linked lives; historical effects, and human agency.

Concepts Used:
-

Human development

Multiple, interdependent trajectories which are punctuated with events, transitions

and turning points;

Timing reflected in terms of sequencing, spacing, density and duration of

transitions;

Linked lives as resources or challenges; as synchronous or asynchronous; as an

expression of solidarity or conflict across generations;

Agency as the choices or decisions people make and the individual competencies
they bring to these decisions.

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

Method: Case Study of those

threatened with eviction in last year,
2 sources of data
1.

2.

3.

Secondary Analysis of non random cross-sectional data from Centre

for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) 2006 2007, (N=1583);
- data analysis: bivariate comparison by age groups, eviction status,
logistic regression predicting eviction status;
Qualitative Analysis:
- qualitative interviews (N=42) using a semi-structured interview
schedule
- retrospective profile of the housing history of three age groups (18 to
24; 25 to 54; 55 plus consistent with a life course perspective.
Life course policy assessment model (Settersten, 2002) to the
eviction policy used in Ontario

Lynn McDonald, University of

Toronto

Method Continued:
Sample: anyone who was threatened with eviction in the
last year in Toronto
Chronological age served as a rough indicator of
biological, psychological and social statuses 18 to 24
years, 25 to 54, and 55+.

Age differences from cross-sectional research designs

(age, period and cohort effects are confounded) cannot
be confused with age changes that can only be
demonstrated with longitudinal designs.

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

Findings CERA DATA: Age

Differences

the analysis suggested that there were differences by age group:

normative differences like, monthly income, marital status, number,

age of children and household size;

Non-normative differences
- more women than men in the youngest and middle age group
- the youngest were more likely to co-habitat and to be in single
parent families
- the youngest were more likely to be on welfare
- the youngest were more likely to be evicted for arrears and to be
below the monthly median for arrears
- the youngest were the least likely to be referred for legal or rent
help

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

Findings CERA DATA: Eviction

Status Differences
Differences were consistent with the
literature and were anticipated:
Singles more likely to be evicted;
Those without paid employment, smaller
monthly incomes, and the largest rent-toincome ratios
Those with the largest arrears.

Lynn McDonald, University of

Toronto

Multivariate Analysis

Only factors that significantly predicted eviction were

income related:
Those tenants whose main source of income was
employment had a 42 percent higher odds of not being
evicted;
those whose rent-to-income ratio was between the 30
to 50 percent benchmark, had 50 percent higher odds
of non eviction compared to those in a severe housing
crisis;
those below the monthly median for income arrears
had 52 percent odds of not being evicted

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

10

Qualitative Interviews:
Youth 18-24, Housing Trajectories

At the time of the interview, 41 percent of the youth group lived in a

market housing, prior to that, 50 percent lived in market/subsidized
housing, and prior to that 69 percent had market, subsidized or
owned housing.

The main reason for each move over the housing trajectory was
formal eviction and each time the individual moved, the type of
residence appeared to become less stable.

If shelter housing is tracked over the last three moves, the shelter
percentage went from 6 percent to 12 percent on the next move,
to a rather substantial 59 percent after three moves.

The direction of this housing trajectory would appear to be a

downward spiral sequentially ordered into ever less suitable
housing within a fairly short time period given the ages of the
participants.
Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

11

Qualitative Interviews:
Middle Group 25-54, Housing
Trajectories

The housing trajectory for the middle group was a sequence of

transitions from a mortgaged house (12 percent) first move, to only
6 percent with mortgaged houses in the second move and no
mortgaged houses as a result of the last move.

The trajectory followed a downward path going from few subsidized

rental units (6 percent to 12 percent) to more subsidized rental
housing

the percentage of eviction events increased from 17 to 19 to 25

percent after three moves.

The housing trajectory of the middle group seemed to represent

more of an attempt to hold on to their housing because 70 percent
of the group made an effort to use existing resources which was
quite rare in the younger and older age group.
Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

12

Qualitative Interviews: 55 +
Housing Trajectories

The housing pathway for the older group appeared to be more complicated because,
of course, they had lived longer and experienced more events.

That 33 percent had a lived in a mortgaged house at time one and no one in the
group did so at time two, or in the interview at time 3, definitely suggested significant
changes in their housing trajectories.

They progressively moved to a larger and larger share of subsidized housing

indicating their financial strain related to housing solutions from no subsidized
housing to 11 percent to 22 percent currently

It appeared that the 17 percent that were evicted at time one, peaked at time two
to 37 percent and dropped back down to 22 percent after the most recent move

Shelter housing remained constant at 11 percent at all three moves and that the
proportion sharing rooms did not deviate either.

There was some suggestion based on this constancy that chronic homeless across
the life course was operative here, since the majority of tenants were male and the
chronic homeless tended to be male (McDonald et al., 2006).

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

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Conditions leading to an Eviction

Threat 18-24
1.

The use of inadequate strategies to negotiate

normative age transitions of emerging adulthood
(Arnett, 2000) such as becoming an adult who leaves
home, going to school finding a job and a new home,
etc. (Structural complications and compressed in a
very short time frame);

2.

Non-normative turning points - divorce, sexual abuse,

illness, death

3.

Poor decision-making;

4.

Second generation poverty.

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

14

Conditions Leading to an Eviction

Threat 25-54

The principles of the life course most relevant to the middle group
were those pertinent to the core working group of the Canadian
population:

(1) the centrality of the work trajectory and what happened in other
trajectories when a disruptive event occurred at work;
(2) linked lives as a resource instead of a detriment in the form of
children and extended family members;
(3) the structural/cultural effects of ethnicity and the unintended
consequences of policy. (labour market shifts).

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

15

Conditions Leading to an Eviction

Threat 55+
1.

The older age group had some difficulty navigating

the normal transition into older adulthood primarily
because they were aging in place in an inhospitable
environment that they might have coped with at
younger ages but could no longer manage because of
physical, social, economic or psychological
infirmities.

2.

Within this aging in place context the challenges of

aging became more trying and often turned into major
turning points where people totally changed direction
in their lives.
Lynn McDonald, University of
Toronto

16

Coping Strategies for Eviction

18-24: psychological distress, disappear, move
to friends, couch surf, welfare, food banks,
shelters;
25-54: fear, paid arrears no matter the sacrifice
through use of formal services; borrowing from
extended family; taking on more work;
55+: worn down, legal aid, doing without, social
investment in networks with superintendents,
permanent disability to bridge gap to old age
benefits.
Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

17

Conclusions:
The housing affordability picture was very
complicated,
There were human development issues
pertinent to age, coping and outcomes,
Apparent accumulative effect of evictions,
There was a suggested link between eviction
and homelessness but it was not straight
forward,

Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

18

Mismatch between Policy and

Experience Snapshot vs.
Longitudinal View

Eviction policy is remedial instead of preventative - the intention is

to correct the negative outcome of non payment of rent by assisting
the landlord;

the policy is directed only at the working poor who are assumed to
be negligent when, in fact, the problems as seen in this data are
both individual and structural in nature;

human development issues are totally ignored,

there is no formula for smoothing out some of the life course

exigencies - the amount of arrears owing was usually very small.

the policy does not consider past behaviour such as evictions, poor
credit ratings, illness, etc..
Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

19

Conclusions cont
tenants were subject to unintended consequences
where policies conflicted or they were penalized for
following one policy that contravened another;
policy lags behind the times rise in single parent
families, postponement of adulthood, the aging of the
population, outdated lifetime employment model,
immigration
Ignores linked lived cohabitation of young people,
workers have families and children, lives are linked
through generations;
Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

20

Conclusion:
In order to achieve stable housing, policies have
to recognize that:
- the issues vary at different points in the life
course and require different solutions;
- The issues have to do with social networks not
individuals;
- the issues can be accumulative (downward
housing trajectory);
- Require co-ordination perhaps in domain
clusters at different levels long-term and
emergency levels.
Lynn McDonald, University of Toronto

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Thank You

Lynn McDonald, University of

Toronto

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