People

Board, Staff, and Leads

Role of leads, board, and staff

Chapter Leads shape our strategy and decide how to pursue policy change in their regions.
The Board does fundraising and connects us to other nonprofit organizations with common goals.
Staff serves chapters—creating tools and providing training so that local chapters can advocate more effectively.

When I moved…my rent doubled at the same time as my number of roommates did. I see direct results of the failure to build enough housing in the growing number of neighbors who sleep in their cars, in the park, or in the doorways of buildings. Building more housing is not the only solution to addressing their needs, but it is an essential part of what we must do.

Bio

Ernest is a current Board Member of YIMBY Action, and has been active in the YIMBY movement since 2017. Ernest also serves on the boards of Tech Equity Collaborative…

Jane Natoli

Housing Story

I moved to San Francisco… for a job, but I also came here because it is the kind of city where I could be myself, fully and without reservation as an out trans woman… I’ve made so many friends and watched them leave this because it costs too much, because it’s impossible to figure out how to raise their family here.

Bio

Jane has been a YIMBY since 2016, when she helped found the chapter Grow the Richmond. In addition to serving on the YIMBY Action board, she serves on the boards of the…

Jeff Fong

Housing Story

I first joined the workforce during the Great Recession and spent the better part of a decade looking for a secure foothold in the job market. I eventually found stability, but I was lucky—and too many others were not.

Bio

Jeff has been active in housing policy debates for years, making the case for greater production and a revamped social safety net. He periodically writes about housing…

Laura Fingal-Surma

Housing Story

My godsons live two states away for no reason other than the high cost of housing. I am so sick of saying goodbye.

Bio

Laura Fingal-Surma is a Founding Board Member of YIMBY Action and a cofounder of our affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit Yes In My Back Yard. She started organizing in…

Laura Foote

Bio

Laura Foote became a housing activist in 2014, when she launched one of San Francisco’s first pro-housing volunteer organizations, Grow San Francisco. As Executive…

Leora Tanjuatco Ross

Housing Story

When I was 23, I worked as an intern for an architecture firm. I made $1,300/month, and my rent was $850/month…when the firm started having cash flow issues, I went 9 weeks without a paycheck…I started to stress out about money, constantly…I got sick, I lost my job, lost my health insurance, and ended up in the hospital. I know from personal experience that housing is not separate from physical and mental health.

Bio

Leora Tanjuatco Ross is the Organizing Director at the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo, where she organizes people who can’t afford to buy a home to…

Parag Gupta

Housing Story

My parents were immigrants that worked hard to put a roof over our heads… Now that quintessential American Dream seems more and more out of reach for hard working folks across the country.

Bio

Parag Gupta is a Program Officer at Mercy Housing, a leading nationwide provider of housing for low-income people, seniors, and people with special needs. Parag…

Peter Ambler

Housing Story

Every day I walk my three-year-old daughter to school. Every day we pass men and women living on benches and sidewalks without shelter. Every day she asks me why they don’t have their own homes. It’s always the saddest part of my day.

Bio

Peter Ambler is the executive director and co-founder of Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence, a leading organization in the gun violence prevention movement.…

Sasha Aickin

Housing Story

When I was growing up in the 80s in suburban Arizona, San Francisco (and cities in general) were places that served as a refuge for all the folks who didn’t quite fit in: queer people, misfits, artists, hippies, and more… in the mid 90s, I moved to San Francisco, and I lived there for 22 years. I literally can’t count how many people I know who were forced to leave because of housing.

Bio

Sasha works with organizations working on LGBT issues and HIV/AIDs advocacy, as well as housing. Sascha is a programmer, and has built data visualizations to show…