Evictions, spatial inequality, and the financialization of rental housing in Toronto

This paper examines the link between the financialization of rental housing and the rate of landlord eviction filings in Toronto, Canada. Our analysis is based on a novel database of all purpose-built rental properties (with 20 + units) in the city, linked to all eviction applications filed in the pre-pandemic decade (2010-2019), details on ownership and landlord-type, and socio-spatial data. Mirroring the extractive intensity of financial capitalism, we found that eviction filing behavior intensified along the spectrum of landlord types – from the least, to the most commodified and “financial” – with financial firms behaving most aggressively on all measures. Financial firms had the highest filing rates (eviction filings per 100 units annually), they increased filing rates the most after buying properties (by three times on average), and targeted properties in socially marginalized communities more aggressively than all other types of landlords. By contrast, non-market landlords of “decommodified” non-profit and public housing had the lowest filing rates, and similar rates across the city, regardless of neighborhood socio-economic status. Our findings suggest that expanded decommodification and definancialization of housing would protect tenants from eviction and residential instability and promote housing justice.