Valesa Faria

Executive Director, Development Review at City of Toronto

Speaker

Valesa Faria is the inaugural Executive Director of Development Review at the City of Toronto, appointed in April 2024 to lead a city-wide transformation of the development review process. She oversees a team of over 400 multidisciplinary experts with a clear mandate to modernize and streamline approvals, reduce timelines, and provide the transparency and predictability that developers and communities need to bring projects to life.

With over two decades of experience in both the private and public sectors, Valesa has built a career spanning residential and commercial leasing, asset management, real estate development, housing policy and development review. As the City’s former Director of the Housing Secretariat, she advanced several key affordable housing policies and initiatives, oversaw a wide portfolio of projects, and built strong, cross-sector partnerships to increase housing supply.

A passionate city-builder and housing expert, Valesa is committed to positioning Toronto as a city where complete, livable and resilient communities can be delivered faster — and where government and industry work together to meet the urgent demand for new housing and attract new investments. By championing partnerships, customer service, a culture of high-performance and people-centre urban growth, she is redefining how development is delivered in Canada’s largest city.