Those pictures bring back memories.
I spent some of my formative years growing up in Parkdale. If you knew how to look after yourself, you were fine.
I remember one night a street hooker approached me in Parkdale. I ignored her as the street hookers in Parkdale were pretty bad. Anyway, she ended up saying something like "I know you can afford it, the welfare checks came out today". I thought it was an amusing story of how people spent their welfare money.