Close Reading

The GTA has gone to crap

Scarborough is a crime ridden cesspool! I gave up a 35 yr career just so I didn't have to deal with the environment. I will never in my lifetime will I go back. I avoid the gta as a whole when I can. It's a shame that our home has gone straight down the drain.

The entire GTA has gone to shit. Come out to Durham region. It's coming here too. Old time residents are definitely in the minority

I grew up in Malton (borders Brampton) in the 1980's and it was all Western European and Canadian folks and it was great. Such a sense of community and everyone knew everyone. Us kids would stay out until the street lights came on and played in Parks. It was really safe. We moved away in 2006 because the area had gone such down hill by 1999 and the crime was horrible. Stolen cars, alcohol and drug abusing Punjabi folks and the domestic partner violence of the Indian men beating the crap out of their wives was insane. (I had a friend that was a Peel Region Police officer who ended up leaving because she couldn't take seeing it any longer). I have nothing against Immigration, because my dad was an immigrant, but I do have a problem with the amount of any one country we let in, and the types of people that we let in that contribute to crime and area degradation. It's so sad the slums that have become in Brampton and Malton since we left. I'm glad we got the heck out of there when we did. I feel sorry for all those that are stuck there still. Furthermore with such an influx of immigrants into one area it has driven the house prices and rent through the roof because the pace of immigration was nowhere near the housing starts, and cities think that everyone needs to be packed in like sardines and when you have that many people living in close proximity and you have such expensive living costs it's a disaster waiting to happen and it brings along with it tons of crime and drugs. The Trudeau government really messed up this country and the GTA Cities like Brampton are a shining example of that. It's sick that we pay as much as we do for government at all levels that are this idiotic. It's time we protested in the street and made the government at all levels fear the public again or it's never going to change.

I'm an immigrant (came to Canada 40 yrs ago) but I also feel there's far too many immigrants here...this has caused rents/house prices to needlessly skyrocket and now we're unable to buy our own house or condo though we could've afforded it if not for opening the immigration floodgates. \n\nSince we missed the boat on buying our own property, we're now stuck renting from rotten landlords who make too much noise at night and have no respect for tenants and keep demanding higher rents...I'm hoping to rent a house in the future...or maybe have to move to another city or province that's more affordable...GTA has gone down the hole. Funny thing is that the new immigrants are suffering a lot too for the same reasons...some are leaving.

I am from Toronto. It’s gone. I love it. However it has changed economically since COVID-19. Housing is huge problem to live here renting or owning. The prices are higher than I imagined before the pandemic. \nThen since the gas prices are high and it is huge city, then it is very expensive to move around. \nElsewhere in Canada probably similar, but GTA and Vancouver are the most expensive.

Toronto resident here. Cost of living has become more expensive. I share an apartment with my someone and we are paying about $3,000 per month with few amenities. It requires both our incomes to be able to afford to live here and we're just getting by. I have lived in the core of the city since 2005 but was born and raised in the GTA and have never lived anywhere else. Since about 2015, costs have gone way up and now they are just plain unaffordable. I live close to Sherbourne and Queen and while I see a lot of homelessness, I do not really see much violence. The area south of Queen is much more gentrified and I am never walking in fear, no matter what time of day or night. The Transit system has been under construction for over a decade and it just doesn't seem to end. More and more historic buildings are being converted to condos and I see tons of construction everywhere. Traffic has become nightmarish with too many cars and not enough roads. We are considering a move to Montreal because of the rental costs are about $1000 per month lower, though neither of us is francophone. I am not sure how the powers that be will be addressing the housing crisis moving forward. It's a huge challenge and I may not be around to see the outcome. Having said this, it's going to be really tough to say goodbye to this city.