Steven's Peer Review #2

[stevenli-uoft]

Opening statement summary

This paper examines demographic shifts in Toronto's homeless population from 2018 to 2024, analyzing trends in chronic homelessness, age distribution, and refugee status. The author argues that these changes necessitate a reevaluation of current housing-centric solutions.

Strong positive points

The paper effectively uses data visualization to illustrate key demographic trends in homelessness.

Critical improvements needed

1. The introduction could benefit from a clearer thesis statement outlining the paper's main findings and arguments.
2. The discussion section should provide more specific policy recommendations based on the data analysis, rather than general suggestions.
3. The paper would be strengthened by including more context on existing homeless reduction strategies in Toronto and how they relate to the observed demographic shifts.

Suggestions for improvement:

Please consider adding/changing/removing:

• Include a brief explanation of the data cleaning process in the Data section to enhance transparency.
• Consider adding error bars or confidence intervals to the graphs to show the uncertainty in the data.
• Expand on the limitations of the shelter system flow data in representing the entire homeless population.

Estimated mark:

50/65

Reason:

The paper demonstrates a good understanding of the data and presents clear visualizations. However, there is room for improvement in the depth of analysis and policy recommendations. The structure is generally sound, but some sections could be more focused and detailed.

Scores for each component in the rubric:

R is appropriately cited: 1/1 LLM usage is documented: 1/1 Title: 2/2 Author, date, and repo: 2/2 Abstract: 3/4 Introduction: 3/4 Data: 8/10 Measurement: 3/4 Prose: 4/6 Cross-references: 1/1 Captions: 2/2 Graphs/tables/etc: 3/4 Referencing: 4/4 Commits: 2/2 Sketches: 2/2 Simulation: 3/4 Tests: 2/4 Reproducibility: 2/4 Code style: 1/1 General excellence: 1/3

[Junbo345]

Thank you for your detailed feedback on my paper. I have made modifications to both the introduction and the data cleaning section to address some of your concerns. However, due to time constraints, I was unable to incorporate the additional suggestions regarding the discussion section, specific policy recommendations, and the expanded context on existing homeless reduction strategies.

I appreciate your suggestions for enhancing transparency in the data cleaning process and including error bars in the visualizations. I will keep these in mind for future revisions. Thank you again for your constructive insights!