This event is hosted by Greenbelt Alliance as part of Affordable Housing Month 2021.
Join us for a conversation with guest speakers about how Opportunity Housing can be a part of the solution to the housing & climate crises. As part of the Affordable Housing Month celebrations, Greenbelt Alliance hosts an important conversation about the need to build multi-family homes as an important solution to the combined housing & climate crises in the Bay Area. Read more about Opportunity Housing here.
Our Advocacy Manager, Justin Wang, will be talking to guest speakers Jake Fry, Founder and Principal of Smallworks, and Michael Anderson, a Senior Researcher at Sightline Institute.
Stay tuned for more details
Get to know the speakers:
Jake Fry, Founder and Principal of Smallworks
Jake started Smallworks in late 2005 and became a strong advocate for the introduction of laneway housing. He established Smallworks Studios and Laneway Housing Inc. and worked with the City of Vancouver and other municipalities to help develop zoning by-laws based on his experience and interaction with literally hundreds of potential small home clients. He brings together a team of dedicated people and develops homes which blend innovative techniques and incorporate modern building science and Flat Pac with hand-built finishes and millwork.
In 2012, Jake was one of two founding directors of SmallHousing BC, a non profit society. In 2014 Jake was named Ernst & Young’s (EY) Entrepreneur of the Year in Manufacturing. Today, Jake focuses on finding new ways to broaden the range of housing types in Vancouver to create affordable options for single-family home ownership.
Michael Anderson, Senior Researcher at Sightline Institute.
Michael has been writing about ways better municipal policy can help break poverty cycles, with a focus on housing and transportation, since 2007. His work before joining Sightline in 2018 included reporting and editing for print and web in Longview and Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore., where he worked as news editor of BikePortland.org; writer for the pro-housing coalition Portland for Everyone; and infrastructure staff writer for PeopleForBikes, the largest national biking advocacy organization. He has an English degree from Grinnell College and a journalism degree from Northwestern.