Regent Park revitalization project lowered anxiety in residents’ health: report

TORONTO – Residents who moved back into the Regent Park neighbourhood following revitalization projects are happier with their community and have improved levels of personal safety, a new study suggests.

Doctors at St. Michael’s Hospital released Thursday their initial data on how Regent Park residents’ health has changed since revitalization in the community. They say the study is the first of its kind in Canada.

“One of the initial goals of the revitalization was to build healthy community. So we’re conducting a study to determine if Regent Park residents’ health changed when they moved from relocation housing to new housing in Regent Park,” lead author Dr. James Dunn said in a statement.

Dunn is a scientist at the hospital and a professor at McMaster University.

Thirty-nine residents were interviewed for Dunn’s first phase of a multi-year study. They were part of the first cohort to move in to the updated community. The researchers met with the group in 2008 after they’d just moved out of their homes and into relocation units. They were interviewed again two years later and about a year into their new homes in Regent Park.

Results showed that participants were more satisfied with their homes and their neighbourhoods. They felt better and safer in their communities.

They noticed that gang and drug activity lessened when the transformations changed the troubled community.

Although the change in health effects was modest, the report notes that a handful of factors are at play.

“Health is determined by a large number of factors, and housing is just one of them,” Dunn said.

The process will be repeated with a second group of 153 participants as the one-year mark in their new homes near. Those results will be ready this year.

The revitalization project spanned 15 years and involved replacing 2,083 social housing units. About 700 affordable housing and condominium units were added creating a mixed-income community.

City planners also added storefronts, a cultural centre and other amenities to help improve the neighbourhood.