In mid-2016, I was one of several people who co-founded a new volunteer housing advocacy group, called Abundant Housing Vancouver. I had already met some of the other cofounders through the research and policy advocacy work I was doing related to my master’s thesis on the impact of Airbnb on the City of Vancouver’s rental housing goals, as well as through my role on the City of Vancouver’s Renters Advisory Committee. By then, both roles had led me to speak about rental and other housing policy issues to the media, at various meetings and conferences, and to advocate for the creation of more purpose-built rental housing. Others of us did not know each other, but happened to meet at the same public hearing on a proposed rezoning to permit a purpose-built rental building in East Vancouver on June 23, 2016.

Abundant Housing in Vancouver was also, in part, inspired by Yes-In-My-Backyard (YIMBY) housing movements that were forming in other North American cities around the same time.

While my participation in Abundant Housing Vancouver ended in early 2019, the group continues to be active in 2026, often organizing neighbourhood tours, meet-ups, and hosting public lectures by pro-housing policy advocates and authors.

Two of the early media stories on Abundant Housing Vancouver that mention my involvement are below. 

• Housing unaffordability and neighbourhood opposition drives Vancouver’s YIMBYs to support more density

• Advocates want developments instead of single-family houses in Vancouver,