Topic: Anchor Institutions and Inter-Sectoral Action: Lessons from Hamilton

Speaker: Dr. Jim Dunn is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health, Aging and Society at McMaster University and Director of the McMaster Institute for Health Equity. Trained in urban geography and social epidemiology, he has published widely in housing studies, geography, public health, urban planning and epidemiology and has worked closely with governments at all levels to address issues related to housing, income security, built environments and health inequalities. He is has held numerous awards and appointments, including the William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at Harvard University in 2011-2012. His research program includes projects on the health, social and child development impacts of public housing redevelopment in Toronto’s Regent Park, the development of municipal policy implementation tools for healthier urban form, and the effects of subsidized housing on mental health and well-being in the GTA West. His main current activity is Director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC). From 2017-2018, he was co-Principal Investigator of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot, a bold study of the effects of a guaranteed annual income on a variety of health, work and social outcomes, involving 6,000 participants in 3 communities in Ontario.

Abstract: Some of the most challenging policy problems, including climate change, could benefit from more effective inter-sectoral action. This was a cornerstone of Blair’s Third Way in the UK (‘joined up policy’), but what was less well recognized is the importance of local inter-sectoral action in the UK approach. In Canada, Urban Development Agreements established under Western Regional Economic Development in the 1990s were a mechanism for multiple levels of government to take action locally on complex inter-sectoral problems. In the US, one mechanism for inter-sectoral action has been through ‘anchor institutions’ collaborations. In this presentation, I will describe the impetus and key features of Hamilton’s anchor institutions collaborations, the role of health and healthcare in these efforts, as well as remaining challenges, and invite discussion of the potential for anchor institutions and inter-sectoral action involving healthcare to foster climate action.