About Strong Richmond Hill
How it began
Strong Richmond Hill began with a small group of Richmond Hill residents, each concerned about a different part of the way the city was set up. One was worried about transportation and street safety; another wanted a more walkable city. For Saeed Vahid, the urgent issue was housing—or the lack of affordable homes in Richmond Hill.
A personal search for housing
For Saeed, the housing shortage became personal
Saeed had lived in Richmond Hill for more than two decades. During the COVID pandemic, he had to leave the family home and find somewhere else to live. He had a job and an income, but finding a secure, affordable home proved difficult.
The housing shortage was no longer an abstract issue he read about; it was something he had experienced himself.
Looking for answers
That experience pushed Saeed to look for answers. Some people pointed to immigration. Others blamed foreign buyers. Some said the problem was that governments had stepped away from building homes. Each explanation might account for part of the picture, but none seemed large enough to explain it all.
Finding a framework
Then, one night, Saeed came across Strong Towns. He began reading its articles and watching its training videos for new members. The ideas connected things that had seemed separate: housing, transportation, street design, land use, and the long-term cost of building and maintaining a city. It felt as if a fog had lifted. These were not isolated problems; they were connected to the choices communities make about how they grow.
For years, Saeed had also wondered why getting around Richmond Hill could be so difficult without a car. Walking or cycling often made people feel as if they were in the way, while drivers too often seemed to treat their safety as an afterthought. The Strong Towns approach helped connect those everyday experiences with the larger questions of how a city is planned, built, and paid for.
Saeed joined Strong Towns as a member and brought the conversation home. Together with other Richmond Hill residents, he started the Strong Towns Richmond Hill Local Conversation Group. The group gave people a place to learn, discuss the choices shaping their city, and consider practical ways Richmond Hill could work better for more people.
From conversation to StrongRH.ca
As the conversations grew, so did the need to share them. StrongRH.ca became a place to explain local issues, examine decisions, and invite more residents into the discussion, including people who could not attend meetings. What began with a small group of residents and their questions gradually became a wider community effort.
A lasting home for the work
Running events and taking on more projects made it clear that the work needed a formal structure. The group incorporated as the Strong Richmond Hill Civic Association, a registered not-for-profit corporation. Incorporation gives the shared work a legal home for memberships, contributions, expenses, equipment, and future projects. It also gives the organization a foundation to continue beyond any one person.
The structure is new; the reason for starting is the same. Strong Richmond Hill works toward a city that is financially resilient, safer to move around, offers more housing choices, and gives residents a real role in shaping its future.
What began with a few residents asking questions has become a community effort. Richmond Hill residents can join the conversation and help build a stronger city, one practical step at a time.
Join the conversation