Reflections: City for Sale

After this land was taken from its Indigenous inhabitants, it would eventually become home to labourers in the steel industry, who went on to have families and buy homes. This expanded the population and created opportunities for a growing public sector. Hamilton, Ontario has also long been home to large numbers of immigrants and refugees, with about one quarter of the population being foreign born. This is a diverse city whose inhabitants come from many different socioeconomic, ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds. But it looks like the architects of the future of Hamilton have another far more homogeneous image in mind.

(Source: The Spectator)

New Canadians (Source: CBC)

Everywhere you turn in the Hamilton core, you see either the construction of a condominium complex in progress or signs marking the sites of future condominiums. And this city, once looked at with a hint of disdain as Ontario’s Steeltown, has over the last few years become known for its trendy restaurants and cafés. Yep, we’ve been rebranded! Hamiltonians have been forced to move aside to make way for the hipster and monied Ontarians to reclaim this territory.

Gentrification is a term associated with the renewal and reconstruction of deteriorating areas, accompanied by a replacement of people of a low socioeconomic status with more affluent people. Except, what if the area being “gentrified” isn’t actually deteriorating? Wouldn’t this process just be an example of colonization?

Plan for The Connolly at the site of the former James Baptist Church, with the church façade retained

For many years, it was well-known that Hamilton offered much lower rents and property rates as compared to the Greater Toronto Area. The catch of relocating, however, was that you were unlikely to get a job in this city. But that was okay, because the commute to downtown Toronto is only an hour long. Despite the influx of well-off home buyers, however, Hamilton’s labour force is still dominated by blue collar workers. I’ll sum up our economy in four words: steel, health, construction, food.

If you’re an entrepreneur with a unique business idea, you might have a chance, unless your shop is located in a trendy area and the owner of the building decides it’s time to make way for yet another hipster bar or bistro. This has been the modus operandi on Hamilton’s famed Locke Street for years now.

Locke Street South (Source: Urban Toronto)

We have seen many businesses open and close on this street over the years, and I personally know two successful business owners who were given the heave-ho by their landlords. Locke Street today is lined with expensive cars and an overwhelmingly white clientele. Interestingly, while some of the shops that had been there for decades, like the Locke Street Bakery (now relocated), have been replaced, other properties remain vacant with “For Lease” or “For Sale” signs in their windows.

Before (Source: HomesinHamiltonOntario.com)

After (Source: Jackie Guanzon)

One sees customers walking up and down Locke holding takeaway coffee cups—usually from Starbucks, even though there are several other independent cafés to choose from—but the stores are usually not teeming with shoppers. As I was walking down Locke recently, I simultaneously passed a vacant shop and a group of blonde-haired women, expensive beverages in hand, discussing their lovely weekend at the cottage. It seemed like an apt representation of what’s happening: A certain class of people dominate the area, but they seem more interested in buying the image Locke Street is selling than any goods the shopkeepers might have to offer. This once thriving neighbourhood looks to me like it might implode.

As a renter in Hamilton, I have seen myself become rapidly priced out of the market in the city. In 2011, two-bedroom apartments were renting between $745 and $850 per month; today, these same units are between $910 and $1,200 per month. Moving is not an option. And my building is now on its third owner since I moved in, because there is lots of money to be made in the Hamilton real estate market. Meanwhile, the tenants are left with no real property management and landlords who try to encourage you to leave, since they can charge a new tenant anything they want, while they can only legally increase your rent by a small percentage annually.

I read an infuriating Toronto Star article the other day, written by a so-called real estate reporter—or a marketer for the real estate industry masquerading as a columnist? The article, titled “Hamilton is having its moment: But the days of a cheap, two-storey Victorian may be gone”, is a blatant call to Toronto buyers to scoop up what they can while there are still some spoils to be had. And while this campaign is not new, something about it doesn’t sit well. This article reminded me a lot of the Tata Housing ads in Goa that I, and others, have complained about before.

Once again, I see a connection between Canada and Goa, this time in my hometown. In the case of Hamilton, however, the message is not that the affluent investor deserves a piece of Paradise, as no one would realistically discuss this city in such terms. While the message remains one of entitlement, it is entitlement to something basic that Torontonians have been taught they don’t deserve—an affordable home of more than a couple hundred square feet with outdoor space.

Downtown Toronto: Condos, condos, and more condos!

Hamilton, where you can still find affordable detached homes and green space

But, similar to the situation in Goa, the message to the people who already live here is that we are on a hot commodity that we don’t deserve. Also similar to the situation in Goa is that this in-migration does not appear to be ushering in an abundance of job creation. Perhaps our respective politicians remain hung up on the fiction of trickle-down economics—cater strictly to the wealthy and they’ll create vast employment. There are likely requirements for more domestic labour and child care services as a result of the real estate boom in Hamilton, as people spend more time commuting and less time at home, but there are few medium and large private sector businesses setting up shop.

In Goa, at least, the infrastructure is still missing, whereas it is present here—so, what is Hamilton’s excuse?

What exactly do we mean when we throw around words like “growth” and “development”? Buildings are constructed, highways are expanded, new restaurants, coffee shops, and bars open up… Okay, so, investors put in money to make more money, and one would hope the labour force used to create and maintain this “development” is also compensated… What’s in it for the vast majority of us? We inhabit a world of mass consumption and minimal production. For a few years, it looked like all Canadians were doing was passing their time shopping, but even that has changed, as evinced by all the retailers who’ve closed their doors. Our Prime Minister keeps referring to the “middle class and those working hard to join it”. How many private sector workers are in this group, and how many who are struggling will actually achieve this status? And what is the message, really? That those who are not at least middle class are unworthy of the same facilities as those with money?

As I always say, it is the people who make a place. Colonizers whose role is to consume resources and add only money do not make a place warm and beautiful. Just as I argue that newcomers to Goa must appreciate that they are in a wonderful place inhabited by real, fascinating, gracious people who are worth knowing and deserving of respect, I now argue that newcomers to Hamilton must recognize that this is not some vacant land waiting for them to come and revitalize it. Parts of the city had been neglected, but the city was not falling into disrepair before the real estate boom started. Efforts that were being made to make the city more vibrant were initiated by people whose hearts were invested in this city. Now some of those same people are being gentrified out, and for what?