BSA’s Housing Committee invites you to join us for a conversation about the recent opportunities, challenges and zoning changes across the country and in Massachusetts in addressing housing demand with accessory dwellings. We will be joined by Amy Dain from Boston, MA and Eli Spivak from Portland, OR.

Amy Dain has spent eighteen years working on state and local policy issues in Massachusetts. At the Collins Center for Public Management, she organized StatNet, a network of city and town managers who meet to learn from each other about data-driven decision-making. At Pioneer Institute, Amy authored a white paper on the state of zoning for accessory dwellings across 100 cities and towns around Boston. Amy earned her Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Eli Spevak has been developing affordable housing communities in Oregon for over 20 years, starting as a volunteer construction supervisor with Habitat for Humanity. In 2006, he launched Orange Splot, LLC to build new models of community-oriented, affordable, green housing development – ideally within an easy bike ride of his house. Eli was awarded a Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies at the Harvard GSD, co-founded www.accessorydwellings.org, co-founded Portland for Everyone, and now chairs Portland’s Planning and Sustainability Commission.

Housing Committee Co-chairs: Ganesh Ramachandran & Ray Demers

Ray Demers is the senior director of Design Leadership with Enterprise Community Partners. He leads the Rose Fellowship, the Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute (AHDLI) and other emerging priorities at the intersection of design and housing. Prior to joining Enterprise, he worked in construction and architecture firms in the northeast. Ray holds a master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ganesh Ramachandran is Senior Regional Planner with the Division of Capital Asset Management, Commonwealth of MA. Prior to joining the Commonwealth, Ganesh led urban design and planning efforts in more than thirty cities and municipalities across the US, the Middle East, China, and India. Ganesh holds master’s degrees in Public Administration, Urban Design, and Architecture from the Harvard Kennedy School, UC Berkeley, and the Ohio State University respectively.