A preliminary working group examining private market subsidies in the for-profit infrastructure investment programs. The event is hosted by Centre for Comparative Research in Law and Political Economy, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.
The meeting will be two round table discussions following brief introductions of the topics. See below for the full agenda.
Purpose
There have been recent changes to the way governments create incentives coaxing private capital investment into building public infrastructure. The costs of these public subsidies which seek to support profitable infrastructure investment are not currently tracked or even clearly understood by the public.
Background
The pandemic exposed the differential outcomes between for-profit long-term care and the non-profit and municipal sectors. The focus on the sector has helped to highlight a rather complex funding arrangement for the infrastructure that is a LTC home.
In addition to the pandemic issues, government reports estimate that 100K+ new LTC beds will need to be created over the next 20 years -- not including the current transition of some 15-20K beds to modern standards.
Calls have been made to take profit out of LTC care, but on closer inspection profit generation is complex and tied-up with property ownership and asset values and appreciation. Government subsidies in the sector are geared to help wanted LTC developments compete with other commercial real estate investments for money from private investors. These include building and yield subsidies as well as private ownership of the asset.
This public incentive to private markets investment model is increasingly used through government infrastructure investment funds to build public infrastructure. The Canada Infrastructure Bank has also used this model to try to support new (privately owned and operated) public infrastructure.
The goal of the preliminary workshop is to build a clearer understanding of:
- market subsidies
- how profit is generated from these investments
- how newly recommended changes to the LTC investment programs (including P3 infrastructure models) would work
- other models that compete in the world of public infrastructure investment
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 09:00 to 12:00