Collaborative Governance for Affordable Housing in Toronto and Melbourne

Abstract

Policy formation and implementation have largely shifted from a top-down government-led process, to a collaborative governance approach characterised by complex and opaque partnerships, weakly steered by the state.  We use 36 interviews, undertaken in Toronto and Melbourne between 2015 and 2018, to assess procedural accountability in these two cities: the extent to which policy outputs developed through a partnership approach are fair, transparent, rational, and intentional.  We find that both cities fail the basics of procedural accountability, and that there is little shared understanding amongst key partners – local and provincial/state policymakers, non-profit and private sector housing providers, and philanthropic and private sector finance providers – about the definition and missing quantum of affordable housing, let alone a sense of how to move forward.