Tim Richter

President & CEO

Tim Richter is the Founder, President & CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH). The CAEH leads a national movement of individuals, organizations and communities working together to end homelessness in Canada. 

Under his leadership, the CAEH has shaped federal, provincial and local homelessness action and policy including the national implementation of Housing First, the National Housing Strategy and Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. Most recently Tim was a co-author of “The National Housing Accord: A Multi-Sector Approach to Ending Canada’s Rental Housing Crisis.”

Since it’s founding in 2012, the CAEH has hosted ten highly successful National Conferences on Ending Homelessness; launched a national Training and Technical Assistance program and, launched Built for Zero Canada – a national change effort helping a core group of leading communities end chronic and veteran homelessness – a first step on the path to eliminating all homelessness in Canada. Through this program the CAEH has helped six communities end homelessness for a population and eight achieve reductions in chronic homelessness.

Prior to joining the CAEH, Tim was President & CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation charged with leading the implementation of Calgary’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness – the first plan of its kind in Canada. In the first four years of Calgary’s 10 Year Plan more than 4,000 homeless men, women and children were housed, 3,582 units of affordable housing were funded, and homelessness went down for the first time in 20 years of counting. 

Tim is currently co-chair of the National Housing Council, an independent advisory body mandated by the National Housing Strategy Act to provide advice to the federal Minister of Housing on improving the National Housing Strategy, improving housing outcomes for all Canadians, and advancing the progressive realization of the right to housing.

Amanda DiFalco

Senior Director, Strategy and People

Amanda is a seasoned transformational Human Services Leader and Coach with over 20+ years of experience advancing human-centred leadership to solve complex social injustices. She is passionate about translating ambitious visions into successful outcomes that drive community initiatives forward and has built a reputation for influencing policy reform while aligning stakeholder objectives. Based in Hamilton Ontario, Amanda hold a B.A. (Hons) in Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour and a Master’s degree in Leadership. Her educational background combined with a wealth of experiences leads her to leverage progressive business leadership practices for social good.

Notably, Amanda was the Manager of Homelessness Policy and Programs at the City of Hamilton for over a decade. During this time, she was a path forger for several transformational initiatives in the housing and homelessness that include homelessness enumeration, the Built for Zero Canada movement, Quality By-Name List, Coordinated Access, and creating outcome based measures for homelessness programs to advance multi-million dollar public investments. These combined initiatives led to reductions in homelessness and an increase of 15K+ housing units over 5 years. Amanda has been called upon to advise several provincial, federal, and global housing and homelessness advisories over the years to solve some of the most complex social issues. She was one of two leaders in Canada invited to participate in the Institute for Global Homelessness Leadership program. Amanda continuously strives to view the world through multiple lenses and as such, has been recognized for building strong relationships with Indigenous communities both personally and professionally.

Amanda joined the CAEH in 2020, spearheading a vision to end Veteran homelessness in Canada. She has also served as the Deputy Director for the Built for Zero Canada movement. Today, Amanda has the pleasure of driving the mission to eliminate homelessness in Canada through conscious leadership and taking actionable steps towards creating equitable, high potential and healthy transformations resulting in a world where everyone has a home.

Chidom Otogwu

Data Specialist, Built for Zero Canada

Chidom is passionate about the social and economic wellbeing of the most vulnerable in society. He was drawn to the not-for-profit sector because of its role in advocating and serving the needs of the vulnerable population. His work at Calgary Homeless Foundation exposed him to the problem of homelessness and created the desire and passion for ending it. In his previous role as Data and Research Analyst, Chidom demonstrated strong data and research analysis skills. Chidom is interested in government and public policy and believes that good public policy is necessary for ending homelessness in Canada. He likes to use data to inform policies that would lead to ending homelessness in Canada. Chidom has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.

Floriane Ethier

Data Advisor, Built for Zero Canada

Floriane (she/they) is motivated by their empathy, driven by their curiosity and directed by their need to take action. This has led them through a path of community centered work since 2013, including activism and community organizing. They completed a B.A. in Sociology at Concordia University in 2018 and soon after joined the Old Brewery Mission’s research department. They had an essential role in the configuration, implementation, and training for the launch of Quebec’s first shared HIFIS 4 network. Later, they also became the network’s HIFIS administrator. Floriane lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka/Mohawk nation. It has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst many First Nations including the Kanien’kehá:ka of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Huron/Wendat, Abenaki, and Anishinaabeg.

Mitch DeCock

Data Advisor, Built for Zero Canada

Mitch DeCock is an innovative leader focused on developing technical solutions that empower organizations and communities to work collaboratively and make data-driven decisions to end homelessness. Before joining CAEH, Mitch worked in Finance and managed multi-stakeholder projects in the non-profit sector. Whether transforming large and messy datasets into impactful visualizations, enhancing business processes, automating repetitive tasks, or configuring information systems he is passionate about contributing to the data culture of every team he is a part of. Mitch has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Victoria and a Master of Data Science from the University of British Columbia. Mitch lives in Kelowna, British Columbia with his wife and daughter. Outside of work, you will find him photographing wildlife, hiking, playing soccer, and enjoying time with family and friends.

Maria LAMAS

Director of Finance

Maria Lamas is a CPA, CGA and comes to CAEH with over a decade of experience working with charities. She has made it her personal mission statement to work with charities finding solutions to social issues that align with her values. She helps in building, maintaining and continuously improving on necessary administrative and financial processes to support the work of the organization’s mission and vision. She has thus far used her skills in the areas of poverty reduction, underemployment, education, clean energy solutions, and arts and culture, and has now joined us in our mission to end and prevent homelessness.

Trish Muntain

Executive Assistant

Trish Muntain began her journey into ending homelessness at the Calgary Homeless Foundation in 2011. In 2012, Trish joined the CAEH as the Executive Assistant to the President & CEO, bringing with her over 25 years administrative experience in the non-profit and private sector. A self-proclaimed efficiency expert, Trish is focused on ensuring the CAEH is an operationally well run virtual organization through leadership of CAEH administration including project management, IT, human resources and accounting as well as providing direct support to the CAEH Board and Committees. Trish lives in Regina, Saskatchewan with her son.

MATTHEW WU 

Senior Administrative Assistant

Matthew Wu came to CAEH from the tourism and hospitality industry where he spent 15 years in marketing, branding, partnerships, and as an international award winning hotel concierge. Matthew is passionate about storytelling, community engagement and service excellence and is committed to ensuring that all CAEH events, programs, and partnerships are seamless and impactful. He brings a wealth of experience leading complex, large scale events and projects and is one of the primary organizers for the annual National Conference on Ending Homelessness and Built for Zero Learning Session.  Matthew lives in Vancouver, British Columbia located on the ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. 

AARTI HURRY

Senior Administrative Assistant

Aarti comes from a diverse background. She has experience in building strategic relationships with stakeholders at all levels in small to mid-sized organizations to drive mutually beneficial outcomes in the marketing, operations, HR, administration, and sales functions. She has a working knowledge of both theoretical and practical aspects of business management and administration. She has strong interpersonal skills accompanied by a strong business acumen and adaptability to fast changing environments and is flexible to meet the demands of the job.

She holds an MBA with specialization in Marketing from UK. She also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute, Ireland, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management, from the Association of Business Executives ABE, UK.

Andrew Burns

Senior Director of Public Affairs and Development

Andrew Burns (he/him) is a campaigning leader who has spent his career working for and with governments, political parties, nonprofits and unions. Hailing from New Zealand, he moved to Canada in 2019 to lead strategy and campaigns at Point Blank, an advertising agency that became Canada’s largest progressive political and advocacy campaigns agency during his time there. In this role, he led a team of Campaign Directors and strategists developing some of the country’s foremost political and advocacy campaigns, including multi-award winning campaigns in federal and provincial elections and many issues campaigns across the country. Before moving to Canada, Andrew was a Senior Communications Advisor to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, several opposition leaders and the Labour Party for six years, and ran his own communications consultancy. Andrew specializes in campaign and communications strategy and execution, digital organizing, advertising and branding.

Outside of work, you’ll find Andrew out cycling and enjoying the outdoors with his Jack Russell-Chihuahua, Mancha. Andrew is grateful to live and work on the unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, in what is now referred to as Vancouver.

Elisabeth Hazell

Philanthropy & Campaign Lead

Elisabeth is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) with nearly 20 years’ experience raising funds for social, environmental and cultural causes. She is interested in the power of art, storytelling, and culture as critical levers in solving the intersecting crises facing humanity. Her joy is bringing people together to uplift, inspire, and invest in reconnecting to the communities and systems that nourish us all. She is inspired to work herself out of a job by raising the resources needed to ensure that everyone in Canada has a safe, secure, and affordable home.

MAGGIE RODRIGUES

Government Relations Lead

Maggie Rodrigues is a bilingual policy and government relations specialist with years of experience advancing advocacy in the non-profit sector. Most recently, she worked as a Senior Government Relations Officer at Universities Canada, where she advanced federal advocacy on behalf of Canada’s universities.

As a dedicated community builder, Maggie has supported the work of a number of Ottawa-based charities. For nearly five years, Maggie has tutored at Nunavut Sivuniksavut, a post-secondary program for Inuit students. She was also a long-time volunteer with Best Buddies and L’Arche Ottawa, where she served on the Board of Directors and supported the organization’s work to provide housing and services for adults with disabilities. Recognizing a need in her community, Maggie also developed a program to help students with disabilities transition out of high school, through the support of the Pathy Foundation Fellowship. 

She holds a Master of Political Management from Carleton University and was awarded the university’s Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement. 

Maggie is driven by a belief that stronger and more inclusive communities are possible, and is excited to join the team at CAEH to be a part of the work to end homelessness in Canada. 

Luca Palladino

Digital Organizer

Luca Palladino (he/him) is a long time digital campaigner and political activist. He spearheaded the efforts of Eko (formerly SumOfUs), a citizen-first progressive organization, in Quebec. At Eko, he worked on a successful Dollarama campaign asking the company to better protect essential frontline workers during the pandemic. Through another high-profile campaign, he was able to channel public discontent and pressure the CDPQ (a Canadian pension fund worth $400 billion) to pledge to divest entirely from its fossil fuels portfolio. He most recently worked at Public Outreach as Digital Campaigns Manager and helped build up their digital team. At PO, he had the opportunity to collaborate with Daily Bread Food Bank, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, the SickKids Foundation, CARE International, WaterAid and Oxfam, amongst others. Luca is the founder of KATA books, a publisher of progressive literature for youth. He loves dystopian post-apocalyptic stories and is always happy to discuss camping, cycling, novels and TV shows. He is based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal which is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of its lands and waters.

Alice Egbedeyi

Community Resource Specialist, Foundations, Built for Zero Canada

Alice is a development professional with a background in non-profit work and a Master’s in Development Practice – Indigenous Development from the University of Winnipeg. She started her career in teaching and instructional design, creating online resources to support youth development. Building on this experience, Alice moved into program development, leading the design of community-focused housing initiatives. She played a key role in translating research into practical solutions, securing funding to create transitional and shelter housing in Manitoba for Inuit women escaping violence. Her work is guided by a strong commitment to equity and social justice, focusing on culturally appropriate, distinctions-based resource development that meet the needs of marginalized communities in housing services.