Toronto's middle class shrinking: report

Toronto's housing costs, traffic congestion, childhood obesity, and a disappearing middle class are among the challenges facing the city as the municipal election approaches, the Toronto Community Foundation says.

Tuesday the foundation released its Vital Signs report, the annual check-up that measures the quality of life of Torontonians.

Foundation chair Martin Connell and CEO Rahul Bhardwaj highlight what they see as the most pressing challenges in an open letter titled "Advice to the new Mayor of Toronto."

The four major mayoral candidates — Rob Ford, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi and George Smitherman — will have the opportunity to respond during a CBC mayoral debate at the Glenn Gould Studio called "Vision for the City: Toronto's Vital Signs" at 7:30 p.m. ET

"Where is this city in 10 or 15 years?" Bhardwaj told CBC News. "What are we going to do about transit? What are we going to do about affordable housing?"

Here are four major concerns raised in the Vital Signs report:

• Housing: Toronto's housing market has moved from "seriously unaffordable" to "severely unaffordable," the foundation says, ranking 215th out of 272 markets surveyed in key industrialized countries.
• A shrinking middle class: In 1970, 66 per cent of neighbourhoods were middle income. Today that number has shrunk to 29 per cent. Over 1-million Torontonians now live in the most challenged areas of the city, the report said. Bhardwarj said public transit needs to be extended to the inner suburbs, because many suburban residents feel disconnected from the rest of Toronto.
• Childhood obesity: One in three children are overweight or obese, and more than half of Torontonians live in what the foundation calls "food deserts" — areas with no grocery store in a 1-km radius. Convenience stores and fast food outlets are often the only options for people in those areas, the foundation says.
• Traffic: Because of congestion in the Toronto region, the TTC needs to find the resources to accommodate 175-million projected new riders by 2021, the foundation said. Another problem according to the report is that people with lower paying jobs can't afford to live near subway stations, while workers such as doctors and lawyers can but are less likely to use the TTC, because they drive.

The report covers 11 categories, including safety, housing, and the environment.

The foundation also gives a thumbs-up to some findings in its report.

• The percentage of people in the region with a post-secondary education has risen 50 per cent in the last two decades.
• The number of people admitted to hospital for cardiovascular and respiratory conditions dropped one third between 1999 and 2006, a drop the report attributes to Toronto's leadership in anti-smoking policies.
• Crime in Toronto dropped for the third year in a row.