Building a Collaborative Advantage

Network Governance and Homelessness Policy-Making in Canada

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, City Planning & Urban Development, Government, Social Policy, International
Cover of the book Building a Collaborative Advantage by Carey Doberstein, UBC Press
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Author: Carey Doberstein ISBN: 9780774833271
Publisher: UBC Press Publication: November 14, 2016
Imprint: UBC Press Language: English
Author: Carey Doberstein
ISBN: 9780774833271
Publisher: UBC Press
Publication: November 14, 2016
Imprint: UBC Press
Language: English

Homelessness is not a historical accident. We know that it is the disastrous outcome of policy decisions made over time and at several levels of government. Yet conventional theories in political science and public administration fail to explain why some approaches have worked while others have failed.

Drawing on network governance theory, extended participant observation, and more than sixty interviews with key policy figures, Carey Doberstein investigates how government and civil-society actors in three major Canadian cities have organized themselves to solve public problems. In Vancouver and Calgary, where governance networks include affordable-housing providers, mental health and addiction professionals, Aboriginal community members, representatives of drop-in centres, and others with lived experience, homelessness is on the decline. In Toronto, where government-level decision-making was closed to civil-society actors during the period of investigation, homelessness levels remained stagnant.

Doberstein concludes that having a progressive city council is not enough. Civil-society organizations and actors must have genuine access to the channels of government power in order to work with policy makers to develop innovative and comprehensive solutions. He reveals how program and system coordination and policy innovation are more likely to be generated from within such network governance structures – not imposed from above.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Homelessness is not a historical accident. We know that it is the disastrous outcome of policy decisions made over time and at several levels of government. Yet conventional theories in political science and public administration fail to explain why some approaches have worked while others have failed.

Drawing on network governance theory, extended participant observation, and more than sixty interviews with key policy figures, Carey Doberstein investigates how government and civil-society actors in three major Canadian cities have organized themselves to solve public problems. In Vancouver and Calgary, where governance networks include affordable-housing providers, mental health and addiction professionals, Aboriginal community members, representatives of drop-in centres, and others with lived experience, homelessness is on the decline. In Toronto, where government-level decision-making was closed to civil-society actors during the period of investigation, homelessness levels remained stagnant.

Doberstein concludes that having a progressive city council is not enough. Civil-society organizations and actors must have genuine access to the channels of government power in order to work with policy makers to develop innovative and comprehensive solutions. He reveals how program and system coordination and policy innovation are more likely to be generated from within such network governance structures – not imposed from above.

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