Archived events
Rental housing – unlocking the housing puzzle
February 21, 2023 @ Vancouver, BC
Meet the panelists
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Jill Atkey is the CEO of BC Non-Profit Housing Association. She led the development of the Canadian Rental Housing Index, an interactive web-based tool that has driven media commentary and community planning in communities across Canada. In 2019, Jill was appointed to the Canada-BC Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability, which delivered its final report in June 2021. She is a director with Encasa Financial and the Chartered Institute of Housing Canada and the Chair of the Community Housing Transformation Centre. She has an M.A. from the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC.
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Profile coming soon!Jon Stovell has been in the real estate investment and development industry for over 30 years. He works in all areas including acquisitions, finance, civic approvals, construction and marketing, policy development, and industry advocacy.
At Reliance, he has developed a broad base of expertise in portfolio management with an emphasis on urban renewal through restoration and renovation of heritage buildings, affordable housing, together with new strata and rental residential and specialty office and retail projects. The firm has earned awards for its work. Recent or current projects include the Burns Block Micro-Lofts, the 564 Beatty Office, the Janion in Victoria, West Pender Place in Coal Harbour, the 54-storey Burrard Place with Jim Pattison Developments, and the recent purchase of the Arthur Erickson MacMillan-Bloedel building in downtown Vancouver.
In 2013 Reliance was named the most innovative company in BC by “BC Business Magazine” for its Burns Block Micro-Lofts. In 2014 Jon was named one of Vancouver Magazine’s “Power 50” people.
Jon also serves as the Chair for UDI.
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Wendy Waters is Vice President, Research Services & Strategy at GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA), an institutional real estate manager and developer with over $17 Billion in assets under management in Canada and the US that include rental apartments as well as office, industrial and retail assets. Based in Vancouver, she leads the company’s research function, which provides strategic analysis to support the performance of existing portfolios as well as to help pension fund and life insurance clients grow their real estate investments through development or acquisitions. Multi-residential rental has long been a strategic growth area for GWLRA and its clients.
Wendy has over 20 years of experience in real estate research, 16 of them with GWLRA.
Wendy and her research team focus on the economic, demographic and social drivers of real estate performance as well as capital-flow, financial and market trends that shape returns.
Their work also includes analyzing how urban and metropolitan spaces evolve long term, as well as monitoring shifting demand patterns.
GWLRA’s Research can be found at www.gwlra.com/research and Wendy also regularly shares insights on panels and podcasts, and posts to twitter and LinkedIn. She is also on the management committee of the BC Chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
Wendy has a Ph.D. in economic history from the University of Arizona, and lives in East Vancouver with her husband and two teenaged children.
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Michael is a land use and community planner whose work has ranged from neighbourhood planning and visioning projects in New York City neighbourhoods, to managing planning departments in BC communities. As Director of Planning in the City of North Vancouver, Michael championed policies that significantly increased the rental and non-market housing supply, with the City of North Vancouver one of only a small number of municipalities that delivered targeted levels of housing. In his current role, Michael is leading the delivery of 2,000 new affordable homes across the region and advancing policies to help ensure at least 15% of new housing is affordable.