Ya’el Santopinto OAA MRAIC is the Director of Research and Partnerships at the Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R), a non-profit organization advocating for supportive policy frameworks around the preservation of Canada’s affordable apartment housing supply. In this role, she leads research related to Tower Renewal, an initiative to catalyze reinvestment and community building in apartment tower neighbourhoods. This work includes policy advocacy to support best practices in housing and neighbourhood renewal, ranging from retrofit standards to planning policy and green financing. Recent initiatives have included consulting with the federal government on retrofit performance targets for the National Housing Strategy, and developing retrofit best practices and performance standards using Passive House techniques.

Ya’el is also a registered Architect and Associate at ERA Architects, where she specializes in affordable, healthy, and climate-resilient housing rehabilitation and retrofit. She is Project Architect on the landmark Passive House retrofit and renewal of a Hamilton apartment tower, as well as several building- and site-rehabilitation projects on postwar apartment towers across the region.