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Tony D'Amato Stortz
Principal & founder
Tony is the former Site Superintendent for A Better Tent City of Waterloo Region, one of the first tiny home communities in Canada. He has extensive government experience at the provincial and municipal levels, in street outreach work (as Outreach Coordinator for St. Mary's RC Church in Kitchener), and with non-profit organization development. Tony holds a B.A. in Commerce from the University of Guelph, and is the author of A Home of Their Own, currently writing a second book.
Robert Raynor
Lead, Design & Development
Robert brings a knowledge of building, design, teaching, and communications to the world of homelessness. His professional background is in sustainable housing development at TAS, founding their Circular Living Lab, as an instructor in the Department of Architectural Science at TMU, and at the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto from where he holds a Masters of Architecture. Robert was a fabricator and student trainer for six years before volunteering with Toronto Tiny Shelters during COVID, and being an early member of Two Steps Home.
Sofia Panasiuk
Lead, Research
Sofia leads our research work, bringing her experience at the Population Well-Being Lab, Doctoral studies at the UofT Department of Psychology, and as the cofounder and president of non-profit Being and Becoming. She cohosted the Earth News Interviews podcast, and coauthored the first Canadian Happiness Report.
Shari Eli
Lead, Economics & Evaluation
Shari is a Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto who has spent her career studying what actually helps people — from cash transfers to housing to youth employment programs. She holds a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley and uses the latest tools from machine learning and econometrics to dig into what good social policy really looks like in practice. Her research focuses on Canada and the US, tracing the long-run impacts of government programs on people's health, income, and opportunities.
Meet the team.
Our professional backgrounds are all different, and that's the point. We support each others strengths, because homelessness isn't a problem for one kind of person to solve alone – it'll take all of us together.