The City of Ghent (East Flanders) is to receive 1 million US dollar from the American millionaire Michael Bloomberg’s charity. The city authorities will use the money to develop a system through which Ghent’s most vulnerable residents will automatically be given the tariff reductions, grants and other benefits that they are entitled to. “We will start with the expectant parents and then roll it out further. This is both a stroke of luck and also recognition of our work”, the city says.
Bloomberg organised a competition for cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. There were 600 entries. Ghent made it onto the shortlist, along with cities such as Barcelona, Cape Town, Mexico City, Río de Janeiro, San Francisco and Seoul. The finalists come from 33 countries, representing cities with a total of 80 million inhabitants.
They received 50,000 euro each and time to develop their projects. The aim of the competition is for cities to develop innovative ideas to meet the challenges they face. The City of Ghent set to work on developing a system for the automatic attribution of grants and benefits to those that are entitled to them.
Ghent’s liberal Mayor Mathias De Clercq told VRT News that “There are many people in Ghent who are entitled, but they don’t claim because they either don’t know that they are entitled or the procedure is too complex.
Alderman Christophe Peeters (liberal) said “We are creating a platform that will automatically give people what they are entitled to. We are starting with a pilot project for people that are expecting a child. We will see straight away what benefits they are eligible for, based on information that we already have as a city authority. This means that people won't have to enter the same information dozens of times or keep proving the same thing over and over again. It is a cutting of red tape that will benefits vulnerable residents of Ghent”
The aim is for other cities to learn from this too. “We believe that city councils face tough challenges, but also that they have the power to bring about real change that can have an impact and make a difference in of people’s lives” Bloomberg says.
“This is absolute recognition from a top authority in the field. It is also a financial windfall and something that many city civil servants have worked hard to achieve. The real credit actually goes to them", Alderman Peeters concludes.