unignorable tower united way

This unignorable tower shows just how much people are struggling in Toronto

There have been pictures of a condo building more than two and a half times the height of the CN Tower circulating around social media since 2019.

No, it's not because the city is getting yet another super-development. It's to show how big of a tower Toronto would need to house all of the citizens experiencing poverty in the GTA.

The building, dubbed the #unignorable tower, would need to have space for 116,317 individuals and families.

Though you can see it amid the Toronto skyline on your phone through an augmented reality app, it is physically impossible to build and would be the world's tallest structure — which proves the point of how massive our poverty and homelessness problem is.

The tower was the centre of a campaign by United Way Greater Toronto to spread awareness of the issue and raise funds.

The United Way said that though the GTA "appears to be a prosperous and thriving region," it is actually the poverty capital of Canada, with one in seven residents struggling enough financially to have to worry about a roof over their head.

The goal of the campaign was to render the region's poverty, much like the gigantic building, absolutely 'unignorable.' And based on the social media buzz, it seemed to do some good.

Lead photo by

Norm Li


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