Often dispiriting, life in Toronto public housing can also be perilous: A tenant is at least four times as likely to be murdered as someone living elsewhere in the GTA, statistics suggest.

When 15-year-old Andrew Naidoo was fatally shot this week in the courtyard of the battered, low-rise public housing complex that was his home in northwest Toronto, the tragedy garnered headlines chiefly because of his age.

Few however – certainly not the police – were surprised about where the city’s 23rd homicide of the year took place. Data analyzed by The Globe and Mail, including months of security reports obtained through a freedom of information request, show that among the 164,000 Toronto Community Housing Corporation tenants, the likelihood of falling victim to violent crime in general, and murder in particular, far exceeds that of the rest of the city’s population.

These revelations come in the wake of the Ford administration’s dissolution of the TCHC board after it was discovered this February that its staff had long been expensing items such as spas and exorbitant dinners to the city. Later this month, the organization will be reconfigured. The new staff may bring new priorities, and, it is hoped, a fresh look at how to deal with the long-standing problem of violence in its communities.

Toronto’s subsidized housing is offered to anyone who applies (though there is currently a sizable waiting list). TCHC describes their tenants as “seniors and youth, parents and children, and people of all abilities, speaking over 70 languages.” The average household income, at $19,795, is well below that of the GTA average ($69,125). The rent is typically geared to income, but the low cost is arguably offset by the danger inherent in public housing.