Sinan Demirel

Sinan Demirel is a sociologist with over three decades of experience in addressing homelessness in a variety of capacities: as a volunteer, advocate, researcher, direct service provider, nonprofit executive, consultant, author and public speaker. He has directed government-funded research studies and taught university courses on the sociology of homelessness. Sinan began volunteering in soup kitchens and food banks in the late ‘80s and in the ‘90s undertook a participant-observation study, culminating in his Ph.D. dissertation on the topic of organizations that engage with Seattle’s homeless community. During that time, he founded the Friday Feast meal program, which Seattle’s street newspaper Real Change has called “the best of all soup kitchens” and from there went on to direct organizations that provided shelter and transitional housing. Sinan moved to Victoria in 2018, first working as a Senior Research Coordinator at the Community Social Planning Council, where he helped create their Rent Bank and Housing Security program, before joining the Existence Project as its Associate Director.