Transferring Social Housing Assets to the Community Sector: Non-Profit Housing
in Canada and Lessons for Australia
Steve PomeroySenior Research Fellow University of
Ottawa Centre on Governance
Outline
• Canada & Australia compared• Some context - Characteristics of Canadian
non-profit community sector• Proposed benefits of NP sector• Evaluating outcomes in Canada• Lessons for Australia re stock transfer
11/23/09 2Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
Canada – Australia Comparable
• British colonies;Resource based economies, similar parliamentary and federation structure; large geography and dispersed urban systems.
• Very similar tenure mix 69% Ownership; 26% Private Rental; 5% social - but subtle differences (Harloe)
• Similar initial evolution – post war public housing (supply response)
• But early 70’s divergence– Australia persisted with state owned public housing – Canada shifted to community based Non-profit– (various funding and subsidy arrangements – most F/P cost
shared, increasing decentralization)– Important variations in and across the NP sector: PNP, MNP,
Coops11/23/09 Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance 3
Research Question
11/23/09 4Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
Australia seeking to adopt/adapt UK model of loan stock transfer. What are the inherent benefits of a non-profit community based model over state owned managed public housing?What does the Canadian experience with 35 years of Non-Profit housing suggest for Australia?
Theoretical Underpinnings
• Concepts of Managerialism and New Public Management (Clarke and Newman 1997; Walker 2001)• Decentralization, competition, private business
models, efficiency, customer responsiveness and measuring results
• Grass roots reformist movement and role of Third Sector (Van Til 2009)
11/23/09 Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance 5
Suggested benefits of Non Profit – community sector
• Ability to access financing – leverage existing assets (vs. restriction on public sector borrowing)
• Cost effective (access charitable funding, voluntary professionals on boards)
• Community based providers – smaller scale developments, community support, avoids stereotypes of PH (less NIMBY)
• More responsive to residents (satisfaction)• Important role in policy advocacy
11/23/09 6Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
What is outcome in Canada?
• Small community based PNP/Co-ops still confront NIMBY;
• Excessive number of small providers = fragmented inefficient sector;
• Notion of choice is a myth – sector too small• Access to financing not generally an issue Access
is similar for Public or community NP – and both equally constrained in refinancing/levering due to CMHC regs and insurance policy.
11/23/09 7Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
What is outcome in Canada?
Efficiency • Small scale PNPs tend to have lower
“manageable costs” but more often in financial difficulty and issues of governance (board burnout).
• MNPs higher cost but wider range of service and expertise. Benefits of both alignment and separation (arms length) from municipality.
11/23/09 8Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
What is outcome in Canada?
Responsiveness • Public Housing – large bureaucratic – least
responsive, moderate accountability• PNP – small community based but not
necessarily more accountable or responsive (boards not publicly accountable)
• MNP – small to mid size, very responsive (access to councillor), most accountable
11/23/09 9Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
Conclusions• Who owns and manages less critical than scale
and regulatory regime (permissive vs constraining) which underpins culture of provider.
• Separation (arms length and specific focus can help if balanced with right regulatory regime
11/23/09 10Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
Conclusions• Among Canadian models MNPs may be best
option (but larger PNPs also effective)– Local knowledge– Accountable– Access to financial resources and expertise
• Critical to support capacity and expertise of sector beyond new build (leadership role in of NP associations – comes mainly from larger professional MNP/PNPs)
11/23/09 11Steve Pomeroy, U Ottawa Centre on Governance
Top Related