Privatizing public housing in Canada, A public policy agenda

Abstract Background Wellbeing is seen as a matter of concern for governments and public policy. However, current theories on wellbeing are not well placed to inform this concern, because they fail to take account of and explain evidence on social determinants of mental health. Discussion This article proposes a new theory of public wellbeing which does takes account of such evidence, by explaining the role of stress within three basic functions of social cognition. Building on this description, the article then proposes that wellbeing consists in seven basic abilities, which are always developed and exercised (or not) through constant processes of interaction between individual and environment. The article explains why contemporary theories on wellbeing are poorly placed to inform public policy for wellbeing. It also positions the proposed theory in relation to evidence on social determinants of health (SDH) and the associated public policy agenda. It is argued the proposed theory of wellbeing extends on and challenges the SDH policy agenda in relation to the normative target of policy proposals, factors identified as determinants, impacts of determinants on populations, and proposals for political and social change. Conclusion Improved theory on public wellbeing can inform policy for wellbeing because it explains the contingent nature of wellbeing within contemporary social environments, and extends understanding of social determinants of wellbeing.

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Toward a Public Policy Agenda for Regional Science: Planning Versus Measuring Impacts

Regional Science Matters ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-07305-7_13 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 255-272

Author(s):

Peter D. Blair

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Regional Science ◽

Policy Agenda ◽

Science Planning

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The Problem with Briefs, in Brief

Education Finance and Policy ◽

10.1162/edfp_a_00096 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 287-299 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carrie L. Conaway

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Internal Validity ◽

Education Finance ◽

Policy Agenda ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Source Of Information

Policy briefs written by academics—the kind typically published in Education Finance and Policy—should be a crucial source of information for policy makers. Yet too frequently these briefs fail to garner the consideration they deserve. Their authors are too focused on the potential objections of their fellow academics, who are concerned with rigor and internal validity, instead of the objections of policy makers, who are concerned with generalizability, understandability, and utility. And researchers too often believe that simply publishing a brief is sufficient to communicate its results. By focusing briefs on topics on the policy agenda, helping policy makers see their constituents in the results, writing clearly, studying implementation and not just outcomes, weighing evidence and drawing conclusions, and reaching out to policy makers beyond publication, researchers have the greatest potential to see their work influence public policy.

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“The Right to Lease and Occupy a Home”

10.5406/illinois/9780252038181.003.0003 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Roberta Gold

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

New York ◽

Civil Rights ◽

Public Housing ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

Rental Housing ◽

Rent Control ◽

Private Housing ◽

The Right ◽

The Relationship

This chapter examines how tenants addressed three public policy questions: public housing, slum clearance, and civil rights. The rent-control statutes that tenants vigorously defended served to moderate prices that would otherwise be set higher by the law of supply and demand. However, many tenants and housers were aware that rent control was a superficial fix. The underlying problem was scarcity of housing and a consequent landlord's market. Therefore from the Depression onward, the city's tenants and their allies also promoted programs to build new rental units and improve old ones. The chapter considers how these efforts extended “New York exceptionalism” in two important ways: expansion of public housing and the opening of a new arena for black struggle. It also explores how New York exceptionalism extended into the private housing market and discusses the relationship between rental housing and black progress. It shows that, by organizing widely and using the courts and formal politics, tenants managed to hold the line on some of the gains they had made before and during the war.

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