Hi, I’m Lisa Helps!

I’m currently working as Executive Lead for BC Builds Project Origination and Process Innovation at BC Housing to help with the start up of BC Builds. In late November, I completed my role as Housing Solutions Advisor in the Premier’s Office. I enjoyed working with Premier Eby, Minister Kahlon, the awesome staff in the Premier’s Office and Ministry of Housing, and First Nations, local governments, and the home building industry to design and develop BC Builds – an initiative that will launch in early 2024 to build housing for middle-income households, people like teachers, nurses, construction workers, small business owners, and others who keep our communities running yet are being priced out of the places they live and work.

Transformative work

“The future can’t be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being.”
– Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems, 2009.

I like to do transformative work with cities and communities on housing, climate change, reconciliation and low-carbon prosperity and inclusive economies in order to create empowered, resilient cities and communities.

I like to work in spaces where big ideas can turn into reality, and inspire people to come together, find a common purpose, and take action on complex problems. I’m keen to work with private, public, First Nations, non-profit organizations or faith groups – anyone working to create strong, resilient cities and communities for the future.

I’m focusing my efforts on helping cities and communities with housing, climate change, reconciliation and low-carbon prosperity and inclusive economies because I’ve seen firsthand in Victoria, and from the connections I’ve made nationally and globally, that addressing these key issues as overlapping and related will create empowerment and resilience for cities and communities and set them up well for the dynamic and uncertain future that we are all facing.

Dialogue and generosity as pathways to change

While I learned a lot over eight years as mayor of the City of Victoria, BC, one key insight is shaping my future. I’ve realized that as a species, we are losing the ability to talk with each other about the big issues that matter – the housing crisis, climate change, reconciliation, economic disparity, racism – especially when we disagree.

We are either “for” something or “against” something, and we amplify our positions easily in social media echo chambers. I witnessed the degradation of public discourse locally and globally during my time in office, and seen how social media leads to short-term decision making. We’re losing the ability to think and act together to resolve challenges.

What I knew by the end of my term, is that it should not be so hard to do the right thing. It shouldn’t be so difficult to take action to create the future we need, not for the next four-year political cycle, but for the next 50 years. I’ve also become convinced that without a different approach to problem solving, we won’t be able to take the necessary action on the pressing challenges facing us.

In his book, Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, William Isaacs provides some inspiration that has guided me over the past few years and that will help to shape whatever projects I take on next.

He says that there are two habits that pervade human consciousness, “Losing respect for and so rejecting what is uncomfortable and unfamiliar, and becoming fixated on one’s own certainties.” As a way to break these habits, we need to be mindful of, “The ways we think and feel – the levels of internal freedom we allow ourselves, the inclusiveness we are able to sustain, the authenticity we are able to muster, the flexibility of perspective we are able to take, and the stability and spaciousness we have in our hearts.”

Whether it was navigating through pandemic-related homelessness that saw 600 people displaced from housing and shelter, or developing Victoria 3.0, the City’s long-term economic plan, or bringing innovative housing ideas to the Council table, inclusiveness of difference, making space for authenticity, and maintaining a stable, spacious and open heart has helped to deliver real action. Visit my portfolio to learn more.

Over the last few years as mayor – and particularly during the pandemic – I’ve also learned that generosity and curiosity are key leadership qualities. When someone walked into my office or called me and was clearly angry, once they had finished speaking and were likely anticipating a defensive response or justification or explanation, I found that the most productive response was to check my defensiveness and to get curious.

When I’d say, “Tell me more about how this is affecting you, how this makes you feel,” I saw over and over again that generosity can be disarming and open up a space for genuine dialogue. And I learned that genuine dialogue makes it more possible to make transformative change.

You can find me via my contact page. I’ll look forward to the conversation!