Valesa Faria

SVP, Partnership & Development at Build Canada Homes

Speaker

Valesa Faria is the Senior Vice President, Partnership and Development and part of the Executive Team at Build Canada Homes.

Valesa brings more than two decades of experience in the public and private sectors spanning development review, housing policy, affordable housing development, public-sector transformation, asset management and commercial leasing. Most recently, she served as the inaugural Executive Director of Development Review for the City of Toronto, where she successfully led the modernization of Toronto’s development review system – improving speed, predictability, and collaboration to get more affordable homes and complete communities, approved and built faster. Prior to that, she was the Director of the City of Toronto’s Housing Secretariat where she led system level policies and initiatives to scale up housing supply and preserve existing rental stock.

At Build Canada Homes, Valesa leads the organization’s front-facing development and partnership mandate - working with Indigenous partners, non-profit and private developers, financial institutions, manufacturers, and all orders of government to deploy capital and deliver affordable and supportive housing at scale. She also oversees Build Canda Homes’ public lands strategy as well as its initiatives to advance modern methods of construction and strengthen Canadian supply chains.

Valesa brings a strong track record of effectively aligning governments, industry, non-profit and Indigenous organizations and communities, with a clear focus on affordability, service excellence and results.