It should also be pointed out that there is an argument for these towers in their current state as they provide one of the last vestiges of truly affordable housing in the city. You can get a proper 2-bedroom place for less than a bachelor downtown. Now I'm all in favour of the City's (ERA architects really) Tower Renewal Program (
http://www.towerrenewal.ca/) but there is the danger this will simply gentrify the spaces and result in higher rents. Those involved with the program are very aware of this issue, but it's going to be hard to pull off.
There have been plenty of Miketoronto threads complaining about concentrations of poor in the City of Toronto and how this poverty is not spread throughout the GTA. This really ignores the fact that an economically viable central city like Toronto will
always exhibit such concentrations (and likewise, growing concentrations of wealth). This is where the services are, simple as that. Someone under the low-income cuttoff isn't going to move to the edge of Vaughan because of some weird social ideal of mixed-income. The trick is to ensure that these priority neighbourhoods are properly serviced without unduly raising housing costs and in turn forcing residents elsewhere.