Ghanaian and Somali immigrants in Toronto's rental market: a comparative cultural perspective of housing issues and coping strategies.

Mensah, Joseph ; Williams, Christopher J.

Abstract

Starting from the premise that "culture" has generally been overlooked in the analysis of immigrant housing in Canada, this study examines the housing experiences of Ghanaian and Somali immigrants in Toronto, by exploring the instrumentality of these immigrants' cultures in the complex dynamics of the city's rental market. The study relies on a mixed-methods approach, entailing a questionnaire survey and qualitative in-depth interviews and focus group discussions for the procurement of data. Among other things, we found that Ghanaian and Somali immigrants in Toronto face many housing challenges, some of which are purely economic, while others concern matters such as racial discrimination; a dearth of culturally sensitive housing information; and acute shortages of houses designed to accommodate their large families and some of their cultural needs-including the need for gendered spaces, prayer rooms, and cooking traditional meals at home. The study is significant not only because it deals with a disadvantaged group (i.e., Black Africans in Canada), but also because it brings culture into the discussion of immigrant housing in Canada to modulate the economic reductionism in the prevailing literature.

Resume

Partant du principe que <<la culture>> a generalement ete negligee dans l'analyse du logement des immigrants au Canada, cette etude examine les experiences de logement des immigrants ghaneens et somaliens a Toronto, en explorant l'influence des cultures de ces immigrants dans la dynamique complexe du marche locatif de la ville. L'etude repose sur une approche de methodes mixtes, notamment un questionnaire, des entretiens qualitatifs et des discussions de groupe pour l'acquisition de donnees. Entre autres choses, nous avons constate que les immigrants ghaneens et somaliens a Toronto font face a de nombreux defis en matiere de logement, dont certains sont purement economiques, tandis que d'autres concernent des questions telles que la discrimination raciale; une penurie d'information sur le logement adapte a la culture, et de graves penuries de maisons concues pour accueillir leurs familles ainsi que certains de leurs besoins culturels, y compris le besoin d'espaces sexues, des salles de priere, et la cuisson des repas traditionnels a la maison. L'etude est importante non seulement parce qu'elle traite d'un groupe defavorise (i.e. Africains noirs au Canada), mais aussi parce qu'elle inclut la culture dans la discussion sur le logement des immigrants au Canada pour moduler le reductionnisme economique qui prevaut dans la litterature.

INTRODUCTION

Unlike immigrants who arrived before the 1950s, the vast majority of newcomers to Canada have ethno-racial backgrounds that are noticeably different from the profile of the dominant group they join (Edmonston and Fong 2011; Tolley et al. 2011). The fact that many new immigrants and refugees live in challenging housing situations, particularly in terms of affordability, has been confirmed by several Canadian studies (e.g., Calvez and Ives 2008; Hiebert et al. 2006; Rose 2010), as has the hypothesis that visible minorities, especially Black Africans, face racial discrimination in the Canadian housing market (e.g., Dion 2001; Lo and Wang 1997; Murdie 2002 and 2003; Teixeira 2009).

These findings are virtually ubiquitous across immigrant receiving nations of the West. For instance, we know from studies by Van Kempen (1997) and Bolt (2001) that Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands live in inferior housing; from Giffinger and Reeger (1997) that Turks in Austria have lower quality housing than native Austrians; from Daley (1998) and Phillips (1998) that Blacks are particularly disadvantaged in the British housing market, and from De Villanova that North-Africans and Portuguese are equally disadvantaged in France (De Villanova 1997).

The rapid increase in Canada's immigrant population has drawn considerable research attention to the housing experiences of immigrants (e.g., Murdie and Logan (2011). This increased research interest in immigrant housing was aided by the creation of the Metropolis project (and its related regional research centres) and a corresponding interest in immigrant housing by various NGOs, immigrant-serving organizations, and government agencies, such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). While this research has enhanced our understanding of the challenges that newcomers face in acquiring suitable housing, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of culture in shaping the housing experiences of newcomers.

Given its broad meaning, "culture" has inevitably surfaced in the Canadian literature on immigrant housing. Examples include Agrewal (2006), Pascali (2006), and D'Addario et al. (2008). What is missing, though, is a sustained analysis of the extent to which culture is enmeshed in the housing situation of immigrants. The relative dearth of cultural analysis is surprising, since "one of the defining characteristics of recent immigration to Canada has been its cultural and racial heterogeneity" (Teixeira and Halliday 2010, 3). It can be argued that whether housing is adequate, suitable, or even affordable is not merely a socioeconomic issue, but also a cultural one. Moreover, with the "cultural turn" in the social sciences (Ley and Duncan 1993), one would have expected a corresponding rise in research concerning the role of culture in immigrant housing in Canada. What are the cultural dimensions of the challenges faced by African immigrants in Toronto's rental market? And how do these challenges--and corresponding coping strategies--vary among different African immigrant groups? These are important issues which housing scholars in Canada have yet to adequately address.

The present study examines housing experiences of Black African immigrants in Canada, using Ghanaians and Somalis in Toronto as case studies. The specific objective is twofold: (i) to identify the housing problems faced by members of these groups, highlighting the inter-group variations in their perceptions of these problems; and (ii) to examine the strategies used by members of these groups in the course of dealing with their housing problems, paying particular attention to how their cultural orientations influence their housing situations in Canada. The specific focus on Ghanaians and Somalis is important because these two groups are among the largest Black African communities in Canada. Also, by zeroing in on Somalis and Ghanaians, we get to understand how culture relates to the housing problems of a predominantly Muslim, as opposed to Christian, African immigrant group. Moreover, these two groups help bring out the contrast in transnational housing practices between immigrants from a virtually "failed" nation-state in Somalia (Dorff 2005), and a fledgling democracy in Ghana. Given the exploratory nature of our study, we do not expect to get definitive answers, but to enrich the discussion of immigrant housing in Canada by bringing culture into the mix. The next section of the paper discusses the immigrant housing situation in Toronto and highlights the need to bring culture into the discussion. Following this we profile the two study groups--i.e., Ghanaians and Somalis--detailing their cultural attributes and their immigration trends in Canada. The next section covers the approaches used to obtain data for the study. After this we discuss our findings, followed by some concluding remarks on the main findings and their implications for policy and research.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Drawing mainly on existing bibliographies and other Canadian and international journals, Murdie and Logan (2011) noted that more than 150 items were published on immigrant and refugee housing in Canada between 2005 and 2011. The topics covered are as diverse as they are useful in broadening our understanding of the housing situation of immigrants across Canada. Examples include issues of affordability (Preston et al. 2006; Teixiera 2009), overcrowding (Calvez and Ives 2008; Haan 2010), racial discrimination (Murdie 2002; Teixeira 2008), homelessness (Anucha 2006; Preston et al. 2009), homeownership (Hiebert 2010; Owusu, 1998), and residential mobility (Carter et al. 2009; Murdie 2010).

Most researchers agree that affordability remains a concern for many new immigrants (Preston et al. 2006; Rose 2010; and Teixiera 2009), although Ley (2010) notes the presence of millionaire immigrants, especially in Vancouver, for whom housing affordability is not much of an issue, if at all. Also, there is some evidence, especially from the work of Heibert (2010), that, despite their relatively lower incomes, some immigrants manage to purchase homes in expensive real estate markets within a short time of their arrival--by pooling multiple-family resources and by transferring wealth from abroad. Thus, Murdie and Logan (2011, 8) note that "some immigrants and refugees progress relatively quickly towards a 'positive' housing outcome ... while others remain in inferior, overcrowded, and unaffordable rental accommodation, often for long periods of time." Ina similar vein, Preston et al. (2006) identify three classes of immigrants and refugees with regard to housing affordability--i.e., successful homeowners, households whose housing situations are financially precarious, and vulnerable renters. An additional nuance originates from Haan's (2010) work showing that what might seem as "crowding" conditions among some immigrants may very well be a strategic move on their part to save money for better housing outcomes in the future.

The fact that some of Canada's visible minority immigrants tend to concentrate in ethnic enclaves is yet another observation that appears valid on the surface, but often needs to be qualified. The angst about ethnic enclaves concerns their potential to undermine social cohesion and feed into the spatial concentration of poverty, especially if the ethnic group involved lacks the requisite resources to deal with these issues. We know from the literature that the impetus for enclave formation is both voluntary and involuntary (Lo 2008; Smith and Ley 2008). On one hand, ethno-specific enclaves help shield racial minority immigrants from discrimination, strengthen their social capital formation, and facilitate the provision of, and access to ethnic-based services; on the other hand, such enclaves undermine ethno-cultural mixing, cutting off many poor minority immigrants from mainstream society (Mensah 2010 and 2005; Ray and Preston 2009). Still, given their limited financial resources and the racism they face not only in housing (Francis 2009; Teixeira 2006) but also in education (Dei 2005; Henry and Tator 2009; Stewart 2009), employment (Galabuzi 2006; Li 1998), and the criminal justice system (Tanovich 2006; Tator and Henry 2006), it is not difficult to understand why many Black African immigrants end up in enclaves.

Since the 1970s, Toronto has emerged as Canada's largest city and its main "port of entry" with one of the country's most expensive housing markets. Several studies (e.g., CMHC 2009; Hulchanski 2001; Murdie 2003; Teixeira 2006) suggest that new immigrants likely face their harshest housing affordability problems in Toronto and Vancouver. The problems faced by Black Africans in such a tight housing market are even more complex, given the added issue of racism (Darden 2004; Hulchanski and Shapcott 2004).

Most Black African immigrants in Canada, including the vast majority of Ghanaians and Somalis, reside in Toronto (Mensah 2010), making it an ideal city for this study. While Toronto does not have dilapidated ghetto housing conditions, comparable to low income neighborhoods in major US cities such as Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles (Hiebert et al. 2007; Murdie 1994; Walks and Bourne 2006), examples of poor and segregated Black neighborhoods are not uncommon in parts of the older inner suburbs (e.g., Scarborough, Etobicoke, and North York). The Jane and Finch neighborhood in North York and "Little Mogadishu" in Etobicoke are particularly noteworthy, given their racialized immigrant populations of African decent and poverty. Located between Driftwood Avenue to the east, Highway 400 to the west, Shoreham Drive to the north, and Grandravine Drive to the south, the Jane and Finch neighborhood is dominated by a series of high-rise apartment buildings, with extreme population densities, leaving little space for urban greenery and playgrounds (Lovell 2005). Similarly, located near Toronto's Pearson International Airport in the Etobicoke neighborhood of Dixon and Kipling, "Little Mogadishu" is where many new Somali immigrants in Toronto find housing in low-cost public and private rental apartments. Even though many Black African immigrants and refugees find themselves in such poverty- and crime-ridden neighborhoods from which they cannot easily afford to leave, there is evidence that some established Black Africans, including Somalis and Ghanaians, are increasingly buying homes in outer suburban neighborhoods of Brampton, Mississauga, and in Scarborough and parts of Toronto's inner suburbs (Firang 2011; Walks and Bourne 2006). Meanwhile Lo (2008) cautions that while there has been some level of spatial integration of immigrants in Toronto, this does not necessarily translate into economic integration, as many foreign-born immigrants in the city still work only in a few industries, including construction, child care, garment manufacturing, and food and beverage services. Clearly, the literature on ethnic enclave formation is such that one would be better served heeding Walks and Bourne's (2006) call for nuanced interpretation.

Bringing Culture into the Analysis of Immigrant Housing in Canada

Given the focus on culture in this paper, it is appropriate that we indicate how the term is used here. Following the leads of Appiah (2007), Barker (2003) and Mitchell (2001), we understand culture as a socially constructed, dialectical concept, connoting how people make sense of the world, and the way they attach value and meaning to both the material and non-material worlds based on their experience and socioeconomic and political circumstances. Culture is, thus, inseparable from that which is political, social, or economic (Mensah 2006). Also, with this definition, the interconnections between the symbolic and the material in the conception of culture and the relations of power embedded in culture are duly acknowledged.

As a concept connoting how people live their lives and attach value to their material and symbolic worlds, culture has several implications for immigrant housing. The cultural attributes of African immigrants, including their religion, language, food preference, family size, as well as their "system of rules and principles for 'proper' behaviour" (Wodak et al. 1999, 20), will invariably influence their housing situations. Yet, as noted earlier, only a handful of Canadian scholars, including D'Addario et al. (2008), Pascali (2006) and Agrawal (2006), have explored this area of research, and it is to these few studies that we turn in order to set the context for how we seek to examine the role of culture in immigrant housing in Canada.

Based on the proposition that we know little about how religion has influenced the settlement of Muslims in Canada, D'Addario et al. (2008) examined the importance of mosques in the residential pattern of Muslims in Toronto, using the Bai'tul Mosque built by the Ahmadiyya Movement as a case study. They noted that Muslims in Toronto are only moderately segregated, at least compared to other ethno-religious groups such as Jews, perhaps because of the enormous diversity of the Muslim population in the city. While many outsiders may see residential segregation of Muslims as "a turning away from the rest of the society," D'Addario et al. (2008) noted that Muslims generally concentrate around the mosque not only for spiritual and social support, but also to engage in "activities that make them and their religion ... better known to the larger public" (ii).

In contrast, Pascali (2006) and Agrawal (2006) dealt with how immigrants rearrange their domestic spaces to suit their ethnic needs. With empirical data from Asian-Indian immigrants in Toronto, Agrawal (2006) found that the majority of his respondents have altered the interior of their homes to accommodate large families as well as large social and religious gatherings, with some even creating special prayer rooms in their homes. Agrawal (2006) used this study to call for flexible housing designs to address the ethno-cultural needs of immigrants. Ina similar vein, Pascali (2006) used field data from Italian immigrants in Toronto, Montreal and New York to examine the proliferation of two kitchens in Italian immigrant homes: one on the first floor and another in the basement. She noted that despite its prevalence in North American Italian homes, a double-kitchen set-up is uncommon in Italy. Pascali (2006) posited that the basement kitchen is really a space in which Italian women feel liberated from the constraints of formalities in North America.

We build on these studies by investigating the case of African immigrants and by focusing on many different dimensions of the interrelationships between culture and immigrant housing in Canada. In particular, we examine how these immigrants use their cultural support networks to deal with their housing-related finances in hard times, knowing that many Somalis, for instance, are hesitant to borrow from banks because of Islamic prohibitions on interest payment. Also we explore how these immigrants allocate space in their homes on the basis of gender, given pronounced patriarchal tendencies and corresponding cultural prohibitions on male-female interactions, especially among Somalis. The innovations employed by these immigrants to accommodate their relatively large households and extended families, and the attendant inter-generational contestations over the use of space, will also be examined, as will the difficulties these immigrants face (if any) in the course of cooking their ethnic food, based on how kitchens are designed in Canadian homes. Other issues probed concern the residential pattern of these immigrants vis-a-vis the location of their places of worship; the cultural and language barriers they face in their search for housing; and the adjustment they have to make in switching from predominately outdoor living contexts in Africa to predominately indoor living situations in Canada.

PROFILES OF SOMALIS AND GHANAIANS IN CANADA

Until the 1980s, the number of Somali immigrants to Canada was minuscule, totalling less than ten persons per annum (Citizenship and Immigration Canada [CIC] 2005). In 1987, following the human rights abuses of the Siad Barre government, the in-flow of Somalis was in the hundreds, and increased substantially in subsequent years to peak at 5,456 in 1992 (Mensah 2010). According to the 2006 Census, the majority of Somalis (i.e., 29,700 or 78.62 percent) live in Ontario, with Alberta and British Columbia coming in second and third with a total of 4,225 (or 11.18 percent) and 1,460 (or 3.83 percent), respectively. The Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) hosts the largest number of Somalis in Canada--i.e., 18,440 (or 48.8 percent of Canada's total). Sizeable concentrations of Somalis are also found in Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver (Statistics Canada 2006).

The official languages of Somalia are Arabic and Somali. Also, the vast majority of Somalis are Muslims, and this poses unique cultural challenges for these immigrants in Canada. Like Muslims elsewhere, most Somali immigrants have to pray five times daily, and this can be done almost everywhere: in private homes, school grounds or workplaces. The potential for cultural clashes with mainstream Canadians, in relation to this religious practice, is not hard to envisage. Moreover, due to Islamic dietary prohibitions, most Somalis do not drink alcohol, nor do they consume pork, carnivorous animals, birds of prey, nor any animal that is not properly slaughtered by a Muslim with the necessary Islamic prayers--all these are considered non-halal food items (Halal is anything that is permissible under the Sharia or Islamic law).

It is virtually impossible to talk about Islamic culture, or Somalis in Canada, without mention of the hijab--i.e., women's dress that covers their bodies with the exception of their faces and hands. There are various versions of the hijab, and Muslims have had to modify it to suit their circumstances in different host societies. Still, the hijab continues to clash with Western-style uniforms and attire for schools, sports, entertainment, and other activities, so much so that it has been banned in countries such as France. Indeed, there is no shortage of human right cases and public uproar about the hijab in Canada also, especially in the province of Quebec (Canadian Television [CTV] News 2006).

All these religious practices will invariably affect the choice of housing among Somalis in Canada. For example, many Somalis like to live close to a Mosque in order to practice their religion and live in neighbourhoods with a critical mass of Muslims to support shops from which they can procure their halal foods. These neighbourhoods are particularly attractive to Somali women who want to wear their hijabs without eliciting condescending looks from non-Muslims.

As with Somalis, the history of Ghanaian immigration to Canada is quite recent (Citizenship and Immigration Canada [CIC] 2005). Deteriorating economic and political conditions in Ghana, and the relatively favourable immigration policies in Canada, starting with the introduction of the point system in the 1960s, fuelled the earliest wave of Ghanaian immigration, which involved a few hundred immigrants per annum. It was in the early 1990s, following the end of the Canadian recession of the 1980s, that the Ghanaian immigration increased substantially to push the annual number beyond one thousand (Mensah 2010). By the mid-1990s, the Ghanaian immigrant population was large enough for the formation of various ethnic and hometown associations and immigrant churches in cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (Owusu 2000; Mensah 2008). The Ghanaian community in Canada is concentrated in Toronto, where 14,720 (or 63 percent) of Canada's 23,230 Ghanaians live (Statistic Canada 2006).

Unlike Somalis, Ghanaians are mainly Christians and have English as both their official language and a lingua franca in the home country. Yet, Ghanaian immigrants face virtually the same difficulties of racism as their Somali counterparts. Even though most Ghanaian immigrants do not have to worry about Islamic cultural practices (such as hijab or halal) when considering housing, they still have some cultural barriers and needs to contend with, some of which are common among Africans. For instance, cultural attributes concerning culinary practices, extended family systems, and communal worldviews are fairly similar among most Africans (Mensah 2006; Wiredu 1995). Like most Africans, family ties and obligations constitute the primary source of identity and responsibility for most Ghanaians and Somalis, even in diasporic settings.

Regardless of their common African background, members of these two groups could be expected to exhibit some differences in their housing problems and coping strategies. For example, Somalis tend to have larger families than their Ghanaian counterparts (Murdie et al. 1995; Owusu 1998). Additionally, unlike Ghanaians, the vast majority of Somali first-generation immigrants came to Canada fairly recently, and most immigrated as refugees with far more limited resources. Also, because of their Islamic background, the living spaces of Somalis are more likely to be gendered (Opoku-Dapaah 1995) compared to those of Ghanaians. And given the virtual collapse of the Somali nation-state, and the attendant insecurity at home, it would not be surprising to find more Ghanaian immigrants remitting and visiting home, and even building houses there (Firang 2011) compared to their Somali counterparts.

METHODOLOGY

The study relied on a questionnaire survey, qualitative in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to obtain the necessary field data. The questionnaire survey was conducted among Ghanaian and Somali immigrants in Toronto's rental market, using a purposive snowball sampling to enhance the diversity of respondents. Various immigrant churches, mosques, ethnic associations, hometown associations, individuals, and groups were contacted to help administer a questionnaire to 278 people (142 Somalis and 136 Ghanaians). These samples reflected the relative size of the Ghanaian and Somali populations in Toronto (Mensah 2010), but due to the lack of proper randomization and the biases inherent in snowballing, the resulting data are not necessarily representative of their respective populations.

The quantitative survey, conducted from October to mid-December of 2010, included close-ended questions, most of which sought information on respondents' socio-economic, household, and immigration characteristics; house searching strategies; and their encounter with racism. Other noteworthy questions concerned respondents' housing preferences, problems, coping strategies, and transnational housing practices. The survey was conducted face-to-face in different locations, including respondents' homes and workplaces, and local community centres. The questionnaires were administered in English, Arabic, Akan, and other Somali and Ghanaian local languages with the help of interpreters upon request.

The in-depth interviews were conducted in November of 2010 with fourteen key informants, seven from each of the two study groups. Most of the informants were community leaders and immigrant services volunteers, identified through the earlier questionnaire survey. The questions in these qualitative interviews were unstructured, but were administered with the aid of an interview guide. The themes covered were similar to those in the questionnaire survey, but were more interactive and probing, seeking information on various housing-related processes, with ample opportunity for respondents to provide extensive personal narratives. The interviews were mostly done in participants' homes, and were tape-recorded with their permission and later transcribed; on average, each interview lasted between 50 and 80 minutes.

To facilitate data triangulation, one focus group discussion was conducted among each of the two groups, during May and June (of 2011). The Ghanaian focus group discussion involved five males and five females, while the Somali group consisted of six males and five females. The focus group participants were ordinary community members, community leaders, and some immigrant service providers identified through our in-depth interviews and the questionnaire survey. The focus groups dealt with the housing problems faced by discussants; the specific cultural clashes and problems they face in their efforts to get appropriate and affordable housing in Toronto; and the strategies they use to cope with their housing problems. MI the deliberations were tape-recorded with the permission of participants and later transcribed.

DATA ANALYSIS

In this section we analyze the primary data from the questionnaire survey and qualitative in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Statistical analysis of the questionnaire data are based on a chi-square test of statistical significance. Relationships that were found to be statistically significance at the 0.05 level are presented in bold.

Socioeconomic and Immigration Background

Our sample included more males than females among Ghanaians and vice versa in the case of Somalis. The Somali respondents were on average younger than the Ghanaians, but the educational backgrounds of members of the two groups were somewhat similar, although the Ghanaian were more likely to have some technical or trade school education whereas the Somalis were more likely to have been to university. The most striking difference between the two groups relates to household size: Somalis generally have significantly larger households than their Ghanaian counterparts; a fairly similar finding regarding the size of Somali households emerged in the work of Murdie (2002).

Even though slightly more Ghanaians have lived in Canada longer--i.e., before 1990--(Table 2), almost all of the respondents in both groups have received their Canadian citizenship or permanent residence. Asked to indicate the reasons for migrating to Canada, the striking difference was the fact that far more Somalis came to Canada as refugees. Another difference between the two groups relates to employment: While 91.2 percent of the Ghanaians were employed at the time of the survey, only 50.7 percent of Somalis were. Also, whereas some 69 percent of the Ghanaians were employed full-time, the comparable figure for Somalis stood at 21 percent. These differences in employment status are striking, but we need to contextualize them with reference to the age and gender disparities between the two groups. So, for instance, given that roughly one-quarter of the Somali respondents were under the age of twenty, some of the employment gap can be attributed to their younger age. Also, insofar as the Somali sample features a larger percentage of females, this gender disparity might account, in part, for the difference in full-time employment.

Many respondents, especially Somalis, refused to indicate their income category. Nonetheless, the available data indicate that a smaller proportion of Ghanaians (8.1 percent) have household incomes of less than $20,000, compared to their Somali counterpart (16.9 percent). This is hardly surprising, given the better employment status of the former. Indeed, more than a quarter of the Somalis were receiving some government assistance, compared to only 8 percent of the Ghanaians; the difference here is statistically significant (p = 0.000).

Housing Characteristics

The vast majority of respondents among each group live in the Toronto area of the GTA, including Scarborough (91 percent of Ghanaians and 91.5 percent of Somalis). The dwelling types in which both groups of respondents live are also virtually the same, with most residing in high-rise apartments, followed by townhouses. The housing tenures for member of these two groups are not much different, either. More than 80 percent of both groups live in either public housing or rent from a private landlord (half in public and half in private; since our study focused on renters, this high percentage is not unusual). Interestingly, almost all of the Somalis and Ghanaians find their dwellings to be in reasonably good physical condition. In terms of the number of bedrooms and whether or not respondents find their dwellings to be overcrowded, there were important differences between Somalis and Ghanaians. The former were more likely to live in dwellings with four or more bedrooms; and were more likely to regard their dwellings as "overcrowded;" this is hardly surprising, given their relatively larger household sizes. The focus group discussions revealed some interesting cultural dynamics regarding the issue of "overcrowding." For instance, many Somalis were prepared to sacrifice space for the sake of their large family members (and even for their extended families) living together under one roof. Among the Ghanaians we learned that, as a cultural practice, many families discourage their unmarried members--young women in particular--from leaving home in favour of their own dwellings. This is how one Ghanaian female lamented: Young ladies have to wait till they are married to get out of family homes and this creates congestion. I have finished university, but I am still sleeping on a couch, even though I'm working and can afford my own apartment.

To be sure, we also noted that some of these young women actually prefer to stay with their parents to help them save enough money towards future homeownership. Thus, as Haan (2010) rightly observed in his recent study, "over/crowding" may well be a strategy adopted by some immigrants to enhance their housing outcomes in the future. Still, it is clear that some family members are more or less coerced by the demands of their culture to stay with their (extended) families longer than they desire.

The study found that more Somali households have rent levels (including utilities) that fall in the lowest category of "less than $750" per month, while more Ghanaians have rent levels in the highest categories of "$1,251-$1,500" and "over $1,500" per month. This situation is not hard to explain: for example, relatively more Somalis rely on government assistance, and are therefore more likely to receive rent subsidies, placing them in the low end of the rent scale. Also, even though the proportions of Somalis and Ghanaians that are renting public housing and private rental housing are almost the same, slightly more Somali households are renting from not-for-profit housing co-operations. A far greater proportion of Ghanaians (68.4 percent) than Somalis (39.4 percent) described their rents as being "expensive" or "very expensive." This difference is statistically significant, and not surprising considering that, on average, Ghanaians pay much higher rents. Furthermore, given that Somali households are generally larger than Ghanaian households, the likelihood of rent-sharing is greater among Somalis. Ghanaians may find their rent expensive because many Ghanaians pursue house-building projects in their homelands, while they are still struggling to settle in their adopted country.

Of the two groups, Somalis considered it important to live in large extended family settings, near friends and families, and closer to their places of worship. For example, only 1.4 percent of Somalis did not deem it important to live close to family and friends compared to 14 percent of Ghanaians. Similarly, whereas 14 percent of Ghanaians said it is not important for them to live close to their place of worship, only 4.9 percent of Somalis thought so. The importance of proximity to Mosques for Muslims was also noted by D'Addario et al. (2008). Concerning the desire to live close to family and friends and members of other ethnic groups, both Ghanaians and Somalis expressed a desire to live among people of their ethnic background, with an apparent gradation of preference ranging from "living among family and friends," through "living among other Blacks," to "living among Whites" in that order. While the literature on the formation of ethnic enclaves is fraught with incongruities, there is little doubt that many minority immigrants use such enclaves to shield themselves from racial discrimination, to boost their social capital, and to facilitate the delivery of ethnic-based services (Mensah 2010; Francis 2009; Agrawal et al. 2007). Still, by living in ethnic enclaves, these immigrants become vulnerable to intense surveillance by law enforcement agents, not to mention their exposure to the stigmatizing consequences of neighborhood labeling by real estate agents, educators, the media, and other gatekeepers--especially when such neighborhoods overlap with spatial concentrations of poverty.

Surprisingly, notwithstanding the rise of Islamaphobia across major Western countries in the post-911 era (Goodwin 2009; Hussain and Miller 2006), only 19.7 percent of the Somalis reported that they, or members of their family, have actually experienced racial discrimination. In fact, the comparable rate among Ghanaians is considerably higher at 42.6 percent. Some plausible reasons for this difference come to mind: First, unlike the Ghanaians, most of whom are employed, many Somalis are unemployed and, therefore, do not have to deal with day-to-day racism in the workplace. Also, it is very likely that the Somalis experience less racism because they tend to live in larger households, surrounded by family and friends who serve as "shock absorbers," thereby shielding them from racial hostility on a daily basis (Opoku-Dapaah 1995).

Cultural Differences in Housing and Home Life

Asked to indicate what stands out in their minds as the distinguishing features of housing and how people live in Canada, compared to the situation in their respective home countries, a host of answers surfaced. The most recurrent themes, however, relate to the prevalence of high-rise housing, individualistic tendencies, loneliness, and cold weather, including the need for indoor living in Canada. This is how one Ghanaian interviewee described it: The first issue is the high-rise in Toronto. In Ghana, I never lived in a high-rise building. We have short buildings and it is easy to go in and come out. The first thing that surprised me was the elevators. Personally, I am scared of elevators, so for me to come to live in a high-rise was a shock for me. Another issue is that you cannot just go to anybody's house to ask for anything. It was scary for me initially and I really wanted to go back if I had the chance.... Also, we lived with extended family members in our homes back in Ghana. When I came, I was very lonely in my apartment. Anytime my husband was out, I did not even have anybody to talk to.

The same sentiment was expressed by many Somali interviewees, one of whom observed that: In Africa we never have to deal with this type of cold. I never knew what snow was to begin with. When I came to Canada, the weather made me feel homesick ... the weather in Canada is very bi-polar.... Also, back home there is a high comfort level, because you are always surrounded by family and extended family. Here, you spend a lot of time alone because everyone is busy trying to survive.

Our data indicate that spatial arrangements in Somali homes tend to be more gendered than in Ghanaian homes. For example, 61.8 percent of Ghanaians did not find it important to have separate bathrooms for males and females, whereas 44.4 percent of Somalis did so, a statistically significant difference (p = 0.006). This is hardly surprising, given the gendered character of Islam. As one Somali interviewee noted: "Yes, the boys and girls should not share a bathroom, because it is a taboo in our culture." Indeed, another corroborates this with the observation that "for cultural reasons men and women don't share certain spaces whether they are siblings or not."

When our participants were asked to talk about any traditional food that they have difficulty cooking in Canada, because of the way dwellings are designed, some intriguing responses emerged. For instance, many interviewees, especially older participants, had to improvise or totally abandon some of their traditional dishes, because of the structure of Canadian dwellings, especially apartments. This is how a Somali woman in her mid-fifties put it: Yes, "Oodka" (meat jerky); you can make it here in Canada, but it is just not the same because you must smoke the meat before you fry it; and that is rather difficult when you live in an apartment.

Similarly, a Ghanaian interviewee, who is in her forties, noted at length that: Yes, yes, there are a lot of them, but the big one is "fufu." We use pestle and mortar to pound cooked plantain, yam, or cocoyam with cassava. We cannot make "fufu" here because the pounding will not be allowed in an apartment; even if it is allowed, you may end up breaking the floor and also disturbing your neighbours or those living below your apartment. Also, there is "banku" and "abetie" but now everything has been improvised into powdered form, so we have means of getting them--they are not like the original, but we are managing. Also, it is difficult to cook "koobi" (salt fish) when you live in an apartment, because of the smell. When you don't have a balcony where you can cook these foods, whatever you cook stays in your room for days.

These concerns were commonplace among older immigrants, many of whom were quite nostalgic, while the younger ones had nothing much to say about this issue.

House Search: Strategies and Barriers

Concerning house search strategies, we found that 15.4 percent of Ghanaians and 27.5 percent of Somalis relied on other people to phone landlords on their behalf so as to hide their identities, and thus guard against accent-induced discrimination--the difference here is statistically significant (Table 4). Indeed, some who did their own phoning had to change their accent in order to sound the same as the person they were phoning. The study also found that significantly more Somalis (24.1 percent) than Ghanaians (8.8 percent) had to avoid wearing their traditional attire/dress (e.g., hijab) or, more generally, anything considered "inappropriate" when searching for a house. This is how a Somali young man put it during our in-depth interview: "I had to dress differently in order not to portray a gangster look while searching for an apartment."

Just over 30.3 percent of the Somalis, compared to only 7.4 percent of Ghanaians, saw the need to leave all or some of their kids at home while searching for housing. It appears that many Somalis, who generally have larger families, did not want to expose themselves to intrusive questions from potential landlords about their family size which might undermine their chance of securing appropriate housing. We also noted that some respondents had to borrow money from friends and family to augment their bank accounts and thereby satisfy some landlords' demand for a bank statement indicating their ability to afford the rent; here the difference between Ghanaians and Somalis was statistically significant.

Indeed, the idea of borrowing money from a bank to help redress financial problems associated with housing (or other spheres of life, for that matter) is seen differently by the Ghanaians and Somalis in our study. From our in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, we found that for the Ghanaians, borrowing from a bank, or using a credit card, is not that problematic; their only grievances relate to the high interest rates they often face in this regard. As one Ghanaian respondent noted: Yes, I use line-of-credit and credit card to help with my rent at times; the interest alone can do something big for you, but what choice do we have? Back home, I could have borrowed from relatives without any interest.

For the Somalis, on the other hand, the problem is not so much about the high interest rate per se, as about the notion of paying interest in the first place, since the Islamic religion forbids its adherents from charging and paying interest on loans. One Somali interviewee noted that when compelled to use a credit card, he tries to "pay off the debt before the interest gets applied." Another observed, quite emphatically, that "interest is 'haram' (i.e., forbidden by Islamic law) regardless of what type it is."

Geographic proximity and easy access to work, school, public transit, and cultural facilities such as churches and mosques were all important factors in the respondents' choice of location for housing. Generally, more than 90 percent of both groups mentioned each of these factors as "important."

Our in-depth interviews and focus group discussions affirmed that religion is a major means by which these immigrants cope with stress and loneliness here in Toronto. It therefore came as no surprise that many preferred to live near their churches and mosques. In fact, one Muslim Somali went as far as noting--during our focus group discussion--that when it comes to his search for housing, he "always looks for something near a mosque, everything else is not really important."

Similarly, affordable rent, the number of bedrooms in a dwelling, a safe neighborhood, and the relative lack of racism in a neighborhood were all found to be appealing factors in the choice of residence among members of both groups. Evidently, even among African immigrants, most of whom have limited financial resources, geographic, social, and cultural variables are no less significant than the generally acknowledged economic ones, such as affordable rent, in their choice of housing.

Table 5 summarizes the main barriers faced by the respondents in their most recent housing searches. Not surprisingly "lack of money" emerged as the most formidable, with 93.4 percent of Ghanaians and 81.7 percent of Somalis reporting this barrier. Although "racial discrimination" surfaced as a clear barrier in their search for housing, it appears to be of less concern for Ghanaians, compared to "the lack of information on housing" and "bureaucratic barriers." Similarly, higher proportions of Somalis saw the "lack of information on housing" and "family size" as barriers to housing, relative to "racial discrimination in the housing market."

Still, racial discrimination remains a worrisome matter in Black African immigrants' pursuit of housing, as 69.1 percent of Ghanaians and 67.6 percent of Somali perceived it as such. This contrasts with the evidence noted earlier that only 19.7 percent of Somalis and 42.6 percent of Ghanaians indicated that they, or members of their families, have actually experienced discrimination in the city. Nevertheless, racism in the rental market takes a variety of subtle and not-so-subtle forms, as we discovered in the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. This is how one Somali interviewee described his encounter with racism in his search for housing: "Yes, there was once a house I was interested in renting, but the landlord told me I don't fit the profile of the neighborhood--it was a strong Jewish neighborhood."

Another Somali talked of one landlord asking him whether he has more than one wife. And according to one Ghanaian interviewee, a landlord once asked her whether she cooks "like the Indians." She took that to mean whether she cooks with a lot of spices; and according to this Ghanaian woman, whatever the implication of this question and her answer, she ended up not getting the apartment to rent.

Strategies for Dealing with Lack of Space

Besides using various strategies in their search for housing, the respondents employed other creative means to deal with their lack of space and for resolving their high rent levels. For instance, more than half of the Ghanaians and 19 percent of the Somalis sublet parts of their dwellings to reduce cost. Also, 21.8 percent of Somalis and about one in ten Ghanaians used more than one dwelling to house their household in order to resolve the constraints of space. The use of bunk-beds is even more prevalent, especially among Somalis respondents. The need for a designated space for prayers also arose in the Somali focus group discussion; this is how one respondent put it: "I live in a two-room apartment, and I have turned one of the bedrooms into a prayer room--a place where I can practice my faith in the comfort of my own home." This points to the importance of religion among Somali immigrants, most of whom face severe financial constraints and still deem it important to create a "prayer space" in their homes--space that could otherwise be rented out for money, or be used for secular functions such as entertainment.

When participants were asked in the in-depth interviews to describe how they organize space in their homes to help accommodate visitors, some familial intergenerational tensions surfaced. Most parents, especially those from Ghana, were emphatic about how their Canadian-born children resist any attempts to alter their "normal" living spaces, or sleeping arrangements, to accommodate visitors. We learned from both our Somali and Ghanaian focus group discussions that as a matter of culture, most participants feel obliged to provide accommodation to family and friends who visit, whether they have a comfortable living space or not, and their diasporic children find it hard to make the necessary adjustments to satisfy this tradition. This is how one Ghanaian mother described the situation: Yes, when we have visitors, we put all the kids in one room and let the visitor sleep in one room. Sometimes, if they are more than one person and they cannot sleep in one room, we make the children sleep in the living room. Due to this, we have bought extra mattresses (the pump one) so if people come, we make the kids sleep on it. It is not strange to us adults, but the children always find it strange and we always have to explain it to them. They always argue with me, but I have no choice. We don't have visitors often, though, so it is not a big deal. We cannot afford a hotel, neither can the visitors.

In addition to the worry associated with finding in-house spaces for visitors is the difficulty of hosting someone, be it a friend or an extended family member, who is unfamiliar with modern home appliances such as microwaves and cooking stoves. This is how one Ghanaian interviewee summed up her struggles: When my mother, and later my mother-in-law, came, those were the most difficult times of our marriage. They are not used to cooking on the stove. Back home they use charcoal and firewood. Even heating already made food with the microwave was a struggle. I had to use nail polish to mark the number on the microwave for them to use in case they were hungry and there was no one else at home at the time.

In many instances, the challenges faced by these immigrants in hosting their relatives from back home are daunting.

Housing and Transnational Practices

With the belief that one cannot fully understand the housing conditions of immigrants without knowledge of their transnational engagements, we examined the extent of our respondents' involvement in various activities in their respective home countries. Given the virtual collapse of the Somali nation-state, and the concomitant perilous security conditions, it came as no surprise to learn that 9.2 percent of the Somali respondents have never been home since they came to Canada, and an additional 14.8 percent rarely visit Somalia. The corresponding figures for the Ghanaians were zero and 5.1 percent, respectively. Asked whether they (or any member of their family in Canada) own a business back home, significantly more Ghanaians (59.6 percent) than Somalis (46.8 percent) answered affirmatively. A similar pattern surfaced regarding those who own houses back home, those who are currently building houses back home, and those who intend to re-settle back home. The Ghanaian-Somali differences along all these transnational axes were statistically significant. Given that almost the same proportions of Ghanaians and Somalis live in public housing, it might be assumed that the groups have a similar evaluation of housing cost. However, the Ghanaians are more concerned about housing cost, perhaps because of their greater involvement in house-building projects in Ghana. In addition to the fact that Ghanaians have easy access to their homeland, relative to their Somali counterparts (due to the security situation in Somalia), the Ghanaians were quick to stress the stringent cultural demand to build houses back home. From what we learned from our Ghanaian participants, nothing seems to uphold a family's name and prestige at home more than the building of a house, especially by people living abroad. Arguably, this particular cultural demand, and the related desire to resettle back home, undermines Ghanaian immigrants' ability to procure appropriate and affordable housing in Toronto. Recent empirical work by Firang (2011) corroborates the suppositions that the housing situations of Ghanaian immigrants in Toronto is undermined by their transnational housing activities back home. The words of one focus group discussant capture this proposition quite well: Our parents are always saying they would be leaving for Ghana soon, so they see no need to invest heavily in housing here. However, with the kids growing up, they realize the kids are not eager to leave with them, making it harder for the parents to leave. By the time they realize, they are stuck in low-income housing, and have no means of getting out.

CONCLUSION

We have sought to understand the housing problems and coping strategies of Somali and Ghanaian immigrants in Toronto. The study has yielded a number of important findings indicating that our two study groups have notable similarities and differences. Concerning similarities, we noted that about 85 percent of both groups rent--half in public housing and half in private rental. We also noted that the Ghanaians and Somalis live closer to people of their respective ethnicity and find the physical quality of their housing to be "good" or "satisfactory." Also, members of both groups face racial discrimination in the city's rental market; lack information on housing; have difficulties dealing with the bureaucracies surrounding the procurement of housing in Toronto; and have some cultural dishes that they forego because of the way houses and kitchens are designed.

Notwithstanding these commonalities, there are some striking cultural differences in the housing experiences of Ghanaians and Somalis. For instance, on average, Somalis have larger households and thus experience more housing challenges--especially relating to overcrowding--than the Ghanaians. Also, given their Islamic faith, Somalis tend to have more gendered living spaces than Ghanaians; and exhibit greater abhorrence towards interest bearing loans for housing or other purposes. And, because of the demands of their Islamic religion, especially as they pertain to Ramadan, most Somalis prefer to live close to their Mosques. Ghanaians, for their part, are more likely to be employed, yet tend to find their rents to be expensive, perhaps because they are more likely to engage in house-building projects back home.

A number of research questions and policy implications emerge from our findings. First, it is clear that while racial discrimination remains illegal in Canada, some subtle and not-subtle forms are practiced in the housing market; accordingly, there is the need to augment the powers of formal anti-discrimination bodies, such as the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Equally, there is need for more public education campaigns on how racism feeds into the formation of ethnic enclaves, and the attended problems concerning social cohesion and national unity. Admittedly, some would contend that enclave formation in Canada has a lot more to do with affordability than racism. Secondly, reliable information on housing availability should be disseminated in a culturally-sensitive manner, with the aid of ethnic-based grassroots organizations.

Similarly, to the extent that many of our respondents, especially the Somalis, prefer to live close to their places of worship, the role of religion in the housing decisions of immigrants needs to be duly recognized by immigrant settlement authorities; it is encouraging to note that some immigrant settlement agencies in the city are now paying much more attention to this issue. Furthermore as with the Asian-Indian immigrants in Agrawal's (2006) study and the Italian immigrants in Pascali's (2006) work, we found that some of our respondents have adjusted the internal space of their homes to create special prayer rooms, for instance, while others abstain completely from the cooking of their ethnic food, and still others cook such food only with considerable improvisation, because of the way Canadian kitchens are designed. Accordingly, we add our voice to Agrawal (2006) and Pascali's (2006) call for flexible housing designs to accommodate the domestic needs of immigrants from different cultural backgrounds--of course, to the extent that our safety and other building regulations would permit. Ultimately, though, the most crucial policy issue is the need to address the lack of affordable housing across major Canadian cities, amidst the growing tilt towards neo-liberal cutbacks in social spending.

In addition to these policy issues, our study points to a number of avenues for future research. In particular, it would be instructive to know the root causes of the housing affordability problems among different ethnic groups, if we were to help develop cultural-sensitive approaches to affordable housing in this country. Secondly, given the significance many immigrants attach to their religion, it is important to continue investigating how the locations of churches, mosques and other places of worship in the city influence the residential patterns of immigrants. Finally, more research is needed to find ways to design homes that are amenable to quick, just-in-time (and revisable) spatial arrangements to suit the cultural needs of immigrants in the city. This study began with a question on whether culture is meaningfully significant vis-a-vis our understanding of immigrant housing. The answer is definitely yes. It is clear from the preceding observations that immigrant housing has as much to do with cultural factors as it does with economic ones, and it is important that we incorporate this basic realization into our theorizations of immigrant settlement and integration in Canada.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for its financial support. We would also like to thank our three anonymous reviewers for their critiques and constructive comments on the manuscript. Ali views expressed in this article are, however, our own.

JOSEPH MENSAH is Professor of Geography at York University. His research focuses on issues of globalization and cultures; transnational migration; race, gender, and employment.

CHRISTOPHER J. WILLIAMS is a PhD Candidate in the department of sociology at York University. His research interests include race and racism, critical criminology and policing. His published work has appeared in Canadian Ethnic Studies, Race & Class, and the International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory. TABLE 1. Ethnicity by Socio-demographic Backgrounds of Respondents (%) Variable/Question Ghanaians Somalis (N=136) (N=142) Sex: % Male 62.5 45.1 Female 37.5 54.9 Age: Less than 20 0.7 23.2 21-30 year 24.3 35.2 31-40 year 41.9 26.8 41-50 year 27.9 10.6 51 and over 5.1 4.2 Marital Status: Never married and not separate 28.7 52.1 Legally married and not separated 58.1 34.5 Other (Separated, Common Law, 13.2 13.4 Divorced, Widowed) Education: None 1.5 0 Elementary school 6.6 1.4 Secondary school/high school 26.5 36.0 Technical, trade certificate 47.1 11.9 Some university 11.0 37.3 Completed BA/BSc or higher degree 7.3 12.7 Other 0 0.7 How many people are in the household? Less than 3 27.2 10.6 3-5 people 69.1 47.9 More than 5 people 3.7 41.5 Chi-square =58.941; df= 1; probability = 0.000 Do you live with any extended family member? Yes 17.6 19.7 No 82.4 80.3 TABLE 2. Ethnicity by Immigration, Employment, and Income Characteristics of Respondents (%) Variable/Question Ghanaians Somalis (N=136) (N=142) Period of immigration: Before 1990 20.6 14.8 After 1990 79.4 64.8 Not applicable 0 20.4 Are you presently employed? Yes 91.2 50.7 No 8.8 49.3 Chi-square = 54.717; df = 1; probability = 0.000 How would you describe your present job situation? Part-time 14.7 24.6 Full-time 69.1 21.1 Temporary/casual/contract 2.2 2.8 Self-employed 5.1 2.1 Not applicable 8.8 49.3 Household income: Under $20,000 8.1 16.9 $20,000-$$39,000 48.5 16.2 $40,000-$$59,000 19.9 19.7 $60,000 and above 4.4 5.6 No answer 19.1 41.5 Are your receiving any government assistance? Yes 8.1 28.9 No 90.4 66.2 Chi-square = 23.843; df =1; probability = 0.000 TABLE 3. Ethnicity by Location and Housing Characteristics (%) Variable/Question Ghanaians Somalis (N=136) (N=142) Place of residence in the GTA: Toronto (including Scarborough) 91.0 91.5 Brampton 3.7 2.8 Mississauga 3.7 4.9 Durham Region 1.5 0.7 Dwelling type: Single and semi-detached 13.2 8.4 High-rise apartment 58.8 50.0 Low-rise apartment 5.1 10.6 Rooming house 0.7 0 Townhouse 21.3 28.9 Other 0.7 2.1 Housing tenure: Renting from a private landlord 44.1 42.3 Renting from public housing 41.2 44.4 Renting from non-profit housing 1.5 10.6 coop Other 13.2 2.8 Physical quality of dwelling: Very good 17.6 29.6 Good 33.8 34.5 Satisfactory 44.1 31.0 Poor 2.9 4.9 Very poor 1.5 0 Number of bedrooms: One 13.2 7.9 Two 44.1 18.3 Three 36.0 53.5 Four or more 6.6 25.4 Chi square = 44.274; df = 3; p =0.000 Dwelling deemed overcrowded or not: Overcrowded 5.1 24.6 Not overcrowded 94.9 75.4 Chi-square = 20.598; df = 1; p = 0.000 Total monthly rent, including utilities: Less than $750 11.8 24.0 $751-$1,250 41.2 46.5 $1,251-$1,500 39.7 23.2 Over $1,500 7.3 6.3 TABLE 4. Ethnicity by Strategies for House Searching (%) Variable/Question Ghanaians Somalis (N=136) (N=142) As a house search strategy, have you ever had someone phone landlord for you? Yes 15.4 27.5 No 84.6 72.5 Chi-square = 5.934; df = 1; probability = 0.015 As a house search strategy, have you ever had to change your accent while phoning a landlord in your search? Yes 15.4 18.3 No 84.6 81.7 As a house search strategy, did you ever have to avoid traditional dress or avoid "inappropriate" dressing while searching? Yes 8.8 24.1 No 91.2 75.9 Chi-square = 11.686; df = ];probability = 0.001 As a house search strategy, have you ever had to leave your kids, or some of them, at home when searching? Yes 7.4 30.3 No 92.6 69.7 Chi-square = 23.669; df = 1; probability = 0.000 As a house search strategy, have you ever had to borrow money to improve your bank statement? Yes 8.1 19.0 No 91.9 81.0 Chi-square = 7.027; df =1; probability = 0.008 TABLE 5. Barriers Encountered in the Last Housing Search by the Ghanaian and Somali Respondents (%) Barriers Ghanaians Somalis Yes (%) Yes (%) Money 93.4 81.7 Lack of information 89.0 76.8 Language 62.5 61.3 Racial discrimination 69.1 67.6 Family size 58.8 71.1 Lack of transportation 61.8 53.5 Bureaucracy 79.4 67.6