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A Bibliography on Local Government in
British Columbia - Continued

Social Services, Social Planning And
Social Issues At The Local Level

The stereotypical image of local government is that it deals with administration of "hard" services, namely water, sewers, roads, and garbage collection. Social issues which arise at the local level do not receive much attention in the political science and public administration literature on local government. The one exception to this are the social consequences of urban development, which are a major concern in the literature.
 

The lack of detailed attention to social concerns is somewhat puzzling, given that it is often social issues which mobilize voters and interest groups. Moreover there is obvious room to study such questions as the impact of "hot issues" on voter turnout, the extent to which "single issue" voting occurs at the local level, when and if protest groups turn into civic parties, and the subsequent political careers of people who first come to public notice through their involvement in attempts to deal with local issues.
 

It is sometimes said that local government consists mainly of the administration of hard services, while it is the provincial and federal levels of government which deal with the major social issues. Some advance this as the reason for the lack of attention to social issues in the local government literature. There is some truth to that assertion but, on the other hand, the following is a list of concerns which municipal governments may be called on to respond to: lack of low rent housing; race relations; demands for anti-smoking by-laws; difficulties with "street kids"; objections to pornography displayed in corner stores; the need for day-care facilities, possibly linked to arguments to change zoning bylaws to allow for more daycare in private homes; and controversies over the location of transition houses for battered women, halfway houses for parolees, shelters for runaways, and transition houses for former mental patients. Too, there may be calls for funding of the above facilities. Other issues include animal control, herbicide and pesticide spraying, and calls for cities to declare themselves "nuclear weapons-free zones." In addition, local governments are sometimes pressured to set an example as model employers by, for instance, instituting "equal pay for work of equal value." While the literature about many of the above issues is plentiful, the point to be made here is that there is not a great deal of academic literature which relates such issues to local government.
 

A. Social Services

Clague, Michael, Robert Dill, Roop Seebaran, and Brian Wharf. Reforming Human Services: The Experience of the Community Resource Boards in B.C. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1984. For historical background on local government involvement with social services, see Part 1, "Social Welfare in British Columbia, 1880-1972," 1-26.
 

Gandy, John and Roger Delaney. "Planning for the Delivery of Social Services at the Local Level." Plan Canada 17 (June 1977): 108-17.
 

Manga, Pran and Wendy Muckle. The Role of Local Government in the Provision of Health and Social Services in Canada. Ottawa: The Canadian Council on Social Development, 1987.
 

Stone, Douglas T. "White Rock, British Columbia. A Community Programmed for Seniors." Recreation Canada 43 (July 1985): 35-37.
 

Wharf, Brian. "Municipal Government and Social Services." In Urban Political Issues: A Reader, ed. Richard Loreto and Trevor Price. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. Forthcoming 1989.
 

B. Housing

British Columbia. Joint Committee on Housing. Report of the Chairman to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Victoria, 1976. Chairman: Sam Bawlf.
 

Cogan, Susana and Debra Darke. Canadian Social Housing Managed by Provincial and Territorial Housing Corporations: Comparative Characteristics. Vancouver: British Columbia Housing Management Commission, 1983.
 

Commission of Inquiry into Social Housing for British Columbia. An Inquiry into Social Housing for British Columbia: Common Ground in Meeting Core Need: Final Report. Vancouver, B.C.: The Commission, 1986. Chairman. James C. Cosh.
 

Commission of Inquiry into Social Housing for British Columbia. An Inquiry into Social Housing in British Columbia: The Search for Common Ground: Preliminary Report. Victoria, B.C.: The Commission, 1986. Chairman. James C. Cosh.
 

Donegani, C. Laura. Local Government and the Housing Needs of Older Urban Canadians: The Vancouver, B.C. Case. Vancouver: School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, 1987. (UBC Planning Papers, Canadian Planning Issues, no. 23.)
 

Goldberg, Michael A. The Housing Problem, a Real Crisis? A Primer on Housing Markets, Policies and Problems. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press,1983.
 

Grieve, Beverly Jean. "Continuity and Change: Provincial Housing Policy in British Columbia, 1945-1985." M.A. thesis, University of British Columbia, 1985.
 

Heung, Raymond. The Do's and Don'ts of Housing Policy: The Case of British Columbia. Vancouver: Fraser Institute, 1976.
 

Housing: It's Your Move. A Report Prepared by a Study Team in the Urban Land Economics Division, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, University of British Columbia. Vol. 1, Final Report; vol. 2, Technical Report. 1976.
 

Hulchanski, J. David, ed. Managing Land for Housing: the Experience of Housing Cooperatives in British Columbia. Vancouver: Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia, 1983.
 

Melliship, Kaye Staniforth. "The Contribution of Theories of the State in Analysing Local Government Housing Initiatives: The City of Vancouver's Housing Actions, 1900-1973." M.Sc. thesis, University of British Columbia, 1985.
 

Pinfield, Lawrence T. and Lois D. Etherington. "Housing Strategies of Resource Firms in Western Canada." Canadian Public Policy 11 (March 1985): 93-106.
 

Rose, Albert. Canadian Housing Policies, 1935-1980. Toronto: Butterworths, 1980.
 

Sigston, Donald. "Third Sector Housing in the Vancouver Region." In Current Issues in Canadian Human Geography: The Lethbridge Papers, ed. Nigel M. Waters, 31 - 42. B.C. Geographical Series, no. 36. Vancouver: Tantalus Research Ltd., 1983.
 

Skaburskis, Andrejs. "Speculation and Housing Prices: A Study of Vancouver's Boom-Bust Cycle." Urban Affairs Quarterly 23 (June 1988): 556-80.
 

C. Social Planning

Egan, Maurice. "Social Planning in Vancouver." Plan Canada 17 (June 1977): 118-26.
 

"Local Government and Social Planning." Series of short articles, pages 2-6 of SPARC News / Community Affairs in British Columbia, Dec. 1986. (This is a quarterly publication of the Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia.)
 

McNiven, Christiane. "The Vancouver Social Planning Department." In Community Work in Canada, ed. Brian Wharf, 197-224. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979.
 

Nedeljkovic, Maryvonne. "Town Planning and Social Integration in Vancouver, British Columbia." Etudes canadiennes/Canadian Studies 19 (1985): 247-56.
 

D. Social Issues

Cybriwsky, R., David Ley and J. Western. "The Political and Social Construction of Revitalized Neighbourhoods: Society Hill, Philadelphia, and False Creek, Vancouver." In Gentrification of the City, ed. Neil Smith and Peter Williams, 92-120. Boston: Allen and Unwin, 1986.
 

Hodge, Gerald, with the assistance of John B. Collins. The Elderly in Canada's Small Towns: Recent Trends and Their Implications, Occasional Papers, no. 43. Vancouver: Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia, 1987.
 

Lam, Edmond D. "Why Race Relations in Municipalities? The Challenge and the Opportunity." Municipal World 98 (June 1988): 143-48.
 

Ley, David. "A Ten Year Overview." City Magazine 9 (Winter 1986): 12-19. About gentrification in Canada.
 

Ley, David. "Social Upgrading in Six Canadian Inner Cities." Canadian Geographer 32 (Spring 1988): 31-45. Includes Vancouver.
 

Lowman J. "Prostitution in Vancouver: Some Notes on the Genesis of a Social Problem." Canadian Journal of Criminology 28 (Jan. 1986): 1-16.
 

Mills, Caroline. "Lifestyles and Landscape on the Fairview Slopes." City Magazine 9 (Winter 1986): 20-24.
 

Oberlander, H. Peter and Arthur L. Fallick. Shelter or Homes? A Contribution to the Search for Solutions to Homelessness in Canada. Vancouver: Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia, 1987.
 

Payne-O'Connor, Josephine. Sharing Power: Women in Politics: Vancouver Island Profiles. Victoria: Kachina Press, 1986. Of general interest but see especially the list of "Issues for Mayors" on page 132.
 

Please send any comments or questions to Nicola.Marotz@gov.bc.ca
 

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