Social policy scholarship assumes that left-wing governments favour a stronger public provision of services, while right-wing politics promote privatization, largely as a matter of ideology. Yet the findings on Canadian provinces’ market-based housing instruments suggest that alternative views are possible. Left-leaning governments introduced private delivery mechanisms for economic as well as non-economic reasons. The archival research and thematic analysis of interview responses with key actors (n = 56) suggest that the introduction of housing allowances in the policy toolbox largely results from bureaucratic initiatives, regardless of the party in power. Rather than political forces or advocacy by power interests, this policy change is mostly driven by considerations of equity and efficiency on the part of officials ‘muddling through’. The concept is revisited in the final discussion, where important strands of the privatization literature are challenged, as well as the political assumptions associated with the notion of users’ freedom.

社会政策学者认为，左翼政府倾向于提供更强有力的公共服务，而右翼政治则主要出于意识形态，促进私有化。然而，有关加拿大各省基于市场的住房工具的调查结果表明，其他观点是可能的。出于经济和非经济原因，左倾政府引入了私人交付机制。档案研究和对主要参与者（n = 56）的访谈回答的主题分析表明，在政策工具箱中引入住房补贴主要是由官僚主义举措造成的，而与政党无关。这种政策改变不是由政治力量或由权力利益进行提倡，而是主要由官员“混进来”来考虑公平和效率的驱动。