Participatory Budgeting in Toronto’s Public Housing – Canadian Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation
Tags: Abdulle Elmi, calgary, Canadian Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation, Derek Ballantyne, Dr. Daniel Schugurensky, guelp, Montreal, Participation, participatory budgeting, participatory budgeting project, porto alegre, san francisco, seville, toronto, toronto community housing, university of toronto, washington dc
Millions of dollars are collaboratively allocated each year according to the priorities of residents in Toronto’s public housing units. This participatory budgeting process was invented 20 years ago in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and is now transforming budgeting processes in cities around the world.
The Canadian Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation presented a panel on Toronto Community Housing’s experience with participatory budgeting from academic, management and participant viewpoints.
How Participatory Budgeting Works
Dr. Daniel Schugurensky, University of Toronto professor, outlined five stages of participatory budgeting: (1) diagnosis to identify community needs, (2) deliberation to understand, (3) decision-making, (4) implementation of agreements, and, (5) follow up, including monitoring and evaluation.
Each year, Toronto Community Housing spends $9M on capital projects (infrastructure, improvements, etc). Twenty per cent of this budget, $1.8M, is allocated by residents according to their priorities. Once a … Continue Reading
