The Globe and Mail

People who live on Shaw Street, north of Bloor Street, are used to rubberneckers. The cars don't usually come to a complete stop, but drivers will often slow to a crawl as they pass the strip of houses that one real-estate agent calls "the slanty shanties:" a stretch of a dozen or so homes that pitch and teeter over their foundations like teeth desperately in need of firmer gums. Roofs lean out over driveways, and porches slouch downward, as if melting into the earth. In some cases, neighbours say, basement windows have actually submerged, never to be seen again.