Tony D'Amato Stortz
Principal & founder
Outreach worker, author, 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
Director, Design & Development
Educator, designer, carpenter, housing aficionado.
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, and as a sessional instructor 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
Quality of life researcher, author, host.
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.
Erika Capper
Analyst
Strategic thinker, artificial intelligence fan.
Erika joins our team with experience in AI research and corporate development. With a background in Computer Science and Business Administration, she is President of the Laurier Consulting Club and a student mentor while pursuing her degrees at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Meet the team.
Our professional backgrounds are very 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.