Regent Park rose from the rubble of what was once the south part of
the
Cabbagetown neighbourhood. During the 1930's, South
Cabbagetown was one of
Toronto's worst
slums and as such was
targeted by Toronto city planners for a grand
urban renewal scheme
called Regent Park.
Built in 1949 Regent Park holds the distinction of being
Canada's first
public housing project. Regent Park was
expanded in the 1950's to
include the area south of Gerrard Street, which came to be known as
Regent Park South.
It should be noted that Regent Park is a
completely self-contained
slum within the downtown core. The community has its own
schools,
churches and
community centres as well as several
offices and drop-in centres run by the
Government of Ontario. It is not a very
safe place to walk through during the
daytime due to
prostitutes, heavy drug users, carriers of
weapons and
corrupt policing.