What we're reading this week...
A round-up of articles that have caught our eye in the last few weeks
From UX Indonesia on Unsplash
Two interesting things we read on lately are all about auditors - otherwise known here at Ajah as the dark horses of social change.
We are a little late on this one (given the Vancouver Mayoral elections happened in October) - but a former candidate, Colleen Hardwick and her political party TEAM, campaigned on the promise of creating a commissioner for the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The proposed commissioner would have been responsible for auditing non-profit organizations serving the area and their use of public funding from municipal, provincial, and federal governments. They would have then made recommendations to the government based on their results. This is not something we’ve seen before and we hope it might signal a paradigm shift.
Hardwick said “we need to start with a complete examination of which level of government is spending what money on which services – and then start looking at different and better ways to help people in need and improve the disastrous situation faced by far too much of our city.”
Despite the investment into non-profits over the past few years in the DTES, violent crime and mental health and addiction issues continue to escalate in the city. We liked seeing Hardwick continually reference the need for data to be used in making decisions about public policy (side note: she initiated the motion which added an independent auditor to Vancouver’s city hall). We’re curious to see how public servants can continue to push for transparency and accountability to their constituents.
This article from the CBC examines the recent Auditor General’s (AG) report which found that the federal government doesn’t know if its actions are reducing chronic homelessness in Canada. It is deeply concerning to not know whether or not the efforts, time and money spent thus far have had any positive effects for people experiencing homelessness at all.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and Infrastructure Canada have failed to collect sufficient data about their programs, which were designed to connect the most vulnerable people in Canada with homes. Without data on program use and efficacy there is no way to know if the government is making any progress - or if they are causing more harm than good. Based on the limited data available, the AG found the number of shelter users who are chronically homeless has actually increased since the housing strategy was launched in 2016. This is concerning and highlights an issue with needing to develop infrastructure to measure the efficacy of programs alongside creating them. You can read more of the AG’s report here.