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.

Board of Directors

Andrea Cervone

Housing Story

When I was serving as a council member in Clarkston I saw firsthand how neighborhood defenders can grind progress to a halt.

Bio

Andrea is a current Board Member of YIMBY Action, and joined the YIMBY movement when she was a council member in the city of Clarkston in 2017. Andrea is a campaign manager…

After moving to Los Angeles, I quickly came to love my adopted home city, but found myself shocked at the region’s struggles with homelessness, traffic, pollution, and inequality. After realizing that these issues were all related to L.A.’s severe lack of housing, I decided that I wanted to be part of the solution to these challenges.

Bio

Anthony has been a leader in the pro-housing movement in Los Angeles since 2018, most recently serving as Director of Policy and Research at Abundant Housing LA.…

Ernest Brown

Housing Story

When I moved from Atlanta to Oakland, 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. I’m back home in Atlanta and to work to prevent Atlanta from experiencing the same crisis Oakland has.

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 because it costs too much to live 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 2008 recession and spent the better part of a decade trying to find a foothold in the job market. Even after finding full time employment, I regularly worked an additional 20-30 hours a week as a Lyft driver to cover my cost of living. 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 housing production and a revamped social safety net. He periodically writes…

Laura Foote

Housing Story

When I moved to San Francisco I worked in sales. My friends in the city all worked in retail, food service, and similar industries. We worked full time, but the cost of living was too high for us. I struggled for a while to find an apartment that I could afford on my own. Eventually, I realized that the housing crisis trapped people like myself and my loved ones because—despite the fact that we were working hard and earning money, it wasn’t enough for me to find a place to live.

Bio

Laura Foote became a housing activist in 2014, when she became one of the key founders of the YIMBY movement. As a Founder and the Executive Director of YIMBY Action,…

Nick Pinkston

Housing Story

When I moved from Pittsburgh, PA to San Francisco at 25 to pursue my dreams, my rent tripled. I spent most of my savings, and it was hard to survive until I got on my feet. Since then, housing costs have more than doubled yet again, which would’ve made it impossible for me, were I 25 now. When I see people struggling on the street, I think about how close we all are to losing our homes. It reminds me daily that something must be done and that there is no time to waste.

Bio

In 2018, Nick fundraised to help Josh Harder (D) flip the CA-10 US House seat. Energized by this win, he turned his attention closer to his home of San Francisco. Having…

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 the Chief Program Officer at Mercy Housing, the largest US nonprofit affordable housing provider for families, seniors, and people with special…

Rudy Espinoza Murray

Housing Story

After being laid off in 2020, my husband and I were unable to afford their apartment in Redwood City, CA. That experience got me interested in housing activism. Since then, I’ve written about housing and organized underrepresented communities to speak out for housing projects and increases in affordable housing.

Bio

Rudy joined the pro–housing movement after he and his husband faced housing insecurity in 2020. He quickly became engaged with his local YIMBY Action chapter, Peninsula…

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…

Vincent Woo

Housing Story

I used to live in a below ground-level living room that always smelled of mold, for which I had the privilege of paying a couple thousand dollars a month for. I thought this was an unalterable fact of life until the early YIMBY movement coalesced, which I was all too happy to join.

Bio

Vincent has been a housing activist since 2014. He founded of CoderPad, a tool for remote, skills-based job interviews for programmers, and is now effectively retired.…