Michael Jodah

EXECUTIVE Director

Michael is a co-founder of HOUSE. Michael has strong interest in affordable housing having been raised by a single-mother with limited financial means.

Michael completed his graduate school research on non-profit co-operative housing in North America, surveying over 300 communities across Canada and the United States. Michael brings with him ten years of experience as Executive Director of an environmental organization.

Bria Hamilton

Community and planning director

Bria is a Master’s of Environmental Studies graduate and is a co-founder of HOUSE. Bria’s studies focus on equitable planning, Black Feminist Geographies, and counter cartographies.

She brings with her three years of experience in social planning, research, and community engagement.  Her role is to work alongside incoming members of HOUSE in establishing committees, finding funding sources, and providing urban planning support.

Nathi Zamisa

Project director

Nathi developed a passion for housing related issues, having lived in illegally subdivided multi-tenant housing in the Village at York University. He co-founded the York Village Housing Association (YVHA) in 2018, and is a founding member of the York Non-Profit Housing Society Cooperative (YNHSC) in 2021. He is the current President of the York University Graduate Students’ Association (Canadian Federation of Students Local 84).

He is also currently a Program Director for HOUSE Ontario and a Board Member on the Affordable Housing Committee at York University. Nathi is currently completing his M.A. in Black Studies: Theories of Race and Racism in the Department of Social and Political Thought at York University.

Bhonita Singh

Operations director

Bhonita is a queer Indo-Caribbean woman born and raised the the Jane-Finch area. She is passionate about the collective liberation of equity-seeking groups via the abolition of oppression and injustice. Her community work is based in practices of activism, justice, equity, and social change. Her journey is marked by extensive work with the Ontario Public Interest Reaearch Group and a dedication to making a positive impact, while simultaneously being rooted in an anti-oppression and sustainability framework.

Shadiya Aidid

Communications director

Shadiya is a graduate of the Social-Ecological Systems, Sustainability & Health (MHSc) program at Lakehead University and the Environmental Studies (BES) program at York University. Shadiya is a spoken word artist and scholar-activist. She has been writing, teaching, and performing poetry for over seven years and her work has been featured on CBC, Audible, and at multiple arts festivals. As a student activist, Shadiya played a leading role in getting Lakehead University to divest from fossil fuels. Shadiya previously served as Communications Director for Regenesis, a Canadian environmental organization, and previously served on the York University Board of Governors.

New Commons Development

New Commons develops affordable housing and social purpose real estate that will be stewarded by community-based organizations and maintained as affordable in perpetuity.  New Commons Development works with non-profits, co-operatives, faith-based groups, the public sector, and other community partners to realize project goals and community outcomes.   For more information visit newcommons.ca. 

Joel Roberts

Joel Roberts is a passionate student, educator, and advocate. He has won numerous grants for his PhD research, focusing on the history of property valuation practices and urban development. He has served a two year term as the Graduate Student Representative to York University’s Board of Governors, and is currently a YMCA’s Investment Committee member, where he helped implement a new ethical investment strategy that delivers above market returns.

Joel was a lead researcher CMHC’s ‘Social Innovation Lab’ project called the “Financialization of Housing”, which seeks to better understand how the treatment of housing as a financial asset poses barriers to affordability in Canada. As a passionate volunteer for the Affordable Housing Committee at York University, Joel combines his research and advocacy skills to help provide affordable co-operative housing for students and community members. Joel currently works for Yukon Housing, a government agency, and resides in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Laurent Levesque

Laurent Levesque is a co-founder and the executive director of Unité de travail pour l'implantation de logement étudiant (UTILE), a student housing nonprofit operating in Québec. He has extensive nonprofit entrepreneurship experience, having also co-founded the PUSH Fund and the Institut pour la démocratie économique (IDEE), amongst others.

He is also very involved in the development of the social economy in Québec, most notably as president of the Chantier de l'économie social and as trustee of its Trust Fund, the largest investment fund dedicated to social economy businesses in the province.