Are social conditions getting worse in Toronto?
Just ask this man . . .

Rob Wright did not need a report to tell him that social conditions in Toronto are deteriorating.

The homeless 44-year-old man held his hat out to passersby yesterday as two reports on quality of life were released 10 floors above him, near the corner of Yonge and Carlton Sts.

Both reports - one covering all of Ontario, the other focusing on Toronto - concluded that quality of life over-all has improved to near 1990 levels for many people, but that there is a growing ``social deficit'' for people at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

``Of course it's getting worse, there's no affordable houses for anyone,'' said Wright, who said he was put out of work because of an accident on the job three years ago. ``Even if you're working, you can't get a place for minimum wage.''

The studies, one by the Ontario Social Development Council, the other by the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, support Wright's claims. ``We are committing more and more people to poverty, and it is something we must change if we are to avoid the polarization of our society,'' Peter Clutterbuck, co-director of the Toronto planning council, told a news conference yesterday.

The quality of life studies point to a growing `What about me?' sentiment among residents of Ontario and Toronto, with less concern now than 10 years ago for those less fortunate.

This will come back to haunt all of society, as children raised in poverty are more likely to have problems later on, Ontario council director Malcolm Shookner said. If poverty isn't addressed, he said, we can likely expect higher drop-out rates, more chance of Children's Aid Society involvement and a greater chance of legal troubles.

``We as a society will have to pay for these long-term effects,'' Shookner said.

Across Ontario, growing waiting lists for public housing were the largest negative contributor to the quality of life numbers. And while there are more people working in the province and fewer on social assistance, tighter eligibility rules and more low-wage jobs with no benefits are closely linked to the reduced welfare caseloads, said Shookner, who wrote the provincial study.

``So they went from welfare poverty to working poverty,'' he said.

The Ontario council has published quality of life indexes twice a year for the last two years, using 12 indicators to calculate the quality of life for Ontarians since 1990, which was used as a base year.

With the recession of the early 1990s, over-all ratings dropped dramatically in 1992, and have only now returned to 1990 levels.

However, while economic growth has fuelled this over-all rise, social indicators still show a 21 per cent decline from 1990 ratings.

The province did well in areas such as environmental measurements. Eastern Ontario was found to have a higher quality of life rating than the rest of the province.