Evidence indicates that new immigrant groups, particularly visible minorities, face major barriers in the rental housing market and tend to show high levels of segregation or clustering in low-income neighbourhoods. Immigrants and visible minorities (particularly Blacks and Hispanics) are systematically shown fewer housing units and are steered toward housing of lower quality, often in predominantly black or "ethnic" neighbourhoods These barriers may contribute to constrained housing searches as well as to the concentration of visible minorities in poor-quality housing, lower levels of home ownership among these groups, and the segmentation of housing markets
In Canada, despite recognition of the influential role of "urban gatekeepers" (landlords, real estate agents, and housing agencies) as information providers in the housing market, their impact in shaping the social fabric of our communities remains only vaguely understood. However, since the mid-1990s, Canadian scholars have taken an increasing interest in the housing experiences of immigrants and refugees in Canada.
Within this context, it is important to underline the pioneering work done by Murdie and his colleagues Chambon, Hulchanski, and Teixeira on the housing experiences of new Canadians in Toronto's tight rental market. This research compared the experiences of three recent immigrant groups--Jamaicans, Poles, and Somalis--and found that the two visible minority groups--Somalis and Jamaicans--experienced more personal discrimination than the white group (Poles). Skin colour or race was stated as a primary barrier in the housing-search process. However, income was the most important indicator of perceived discrimination for the Polish and Somali group and second highest for the Jamaican group. Results from this study suggest that affordability is a major problem for the three study groups and that landlords in Toronto may use income as a predictor of the ability to pay rent. The present case study extends a similar research approach to two new and under-researched African groups in Toronto--Angolans and Mozambicans.
Still, little is known about ethnic and racial differences in access to housing in Canada's urban rental housing markets, and the Black African housing experience in large urban areas has been largely ignored. Recent research suggests that new immigrants, refugees, and visible minorities tend to cluster spatially and to live in poor-quality housing, usually in low-income neighbourhoods. Studies by Renaud et al. (2006) and by Mendez et al. (2006)--which examine different housing components of the "Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada"--fill gaps in the Canadian literature by looking at the initial housing experiences of new immigrants after their first six months on Canadian soil. Evidence from these studies demonstrates that members of visible minorities, particularly Blacks, face more barriers when searching for housing than white immigrants (Mendez et al. 2006). Visible minorities are also likely to have higher levels of residential mobility, as they move more frequently than do white immigrants. Beyond these items, however, little is known about the barriers faced by recent immigrants and visible minorities or the coping strategies they use to deal with these challenges. In general, studies in Canada have attempted to account for the under-representation of new immigrants and refugees in the rental housing market without paying enough attention to the role of racial discrimination. Also, few researchers have studied the housing careers of immigrants after they become established in Canada's major urban centres. More research is needed on immigrants' and refugees' housing careers over longer periods of time.

Source - Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal  by Carlos Teixeira