About Vanmates · Est. 2016

A decade of welcoming students to Canada.

Vanmates started with one shared house in Kitsilano and a simple belief: arriving in a new country shouldn't feel lonely. A decade later, we run student housing, co-living, and homestays across three Canadian cities — and we still believe the same thing.

1,200+

Students welcomed since 2016

The original Vanmates house, Kitsilano · 2016

Our story

It started with one house and a spare bedroom.

In 2016, our founders were graduate students in Vancouver watching their international classmates struggle with the same problem over and over: finding a safe, clean, welcoming place to live that didn't cost a fortune or leave them feeling isolated in a dorm.

So we did what we'd want someone to do for us. We rented a character house in Kitsilano, furnished every bedroom, turned the living room into a proper shared space, and started hosting students from Mexico, Japan, Brazil, and Spain. Within six months there was a wait list.

Ten years later, Vanmates spans three Canadian cities, 30+ managed homes, and 45+ vetted homestay families. But the ethos hasn't changed. We still inspect every room ourselves. We still know our residents by name. And we still treat every new arrival like someone's kid who's just landed in a country they've never seen.

What we believe

Hospitality is a discipline, not a tagline.

Three principles guide every decision we make — from which families we onboard, to how we train our house managers, to what we tell a student when their plans fall apart.

Every home, personally verified.

No algorithm picks our listings. Our local teams visit every room before it goes live. We walk the neighborhood, test the Wi-Fi, meet the housemates or host family. What you see is what exists.

Care before scale.

We could list 500 rooms tomorrow by lowering our standards. We don't, because then we'd be a website, not a welcome. Growth follows quality — never the other way around.

A human on WhatsApp, always.

When your flight is cancelled at 2am, you don't need a chatbot. You need a real person with local knowledge. Our coordinators answer messages in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin — usually within the hour.

How we got here

A decade, one home at a time.

We've grown slowly and on purpose. Every expansion came from a student asking "can you help me find something in [new city]?" — not from a spreadsheet telling us to.

2016

The first Kitsilano house

Our founders rent a character home on West 6th Ave and host 6 international students. No website yet — just Airbnb and word of mouth at UBC.

2018

Homestays launch

We start vetting Canadian families to host younger students (16–19). First homestay is with the Kowalskis in Burnaby — they're still hosting today.

2020

A quieter year

Borders close. We hold rents, help residents navigate visa extensions, and double down on Canadian and long-stay residents. Nobody loses their home.

2022

Toronto opens

Our Toronto office at 88 Bloor St E opens. Within six months we have 10 managed co-living homes across the Annex, Riverdale, and near York University.

2024

Montréal, and Maya on WhatsApp

First Montréal homestays in McGill and Concordia neighborhoods. We launch Maya, our WhatsApp assistant, so students can get answers in their own language, any hour.

2026

Where we are today

30+ managed homes, 45+ host families, three cities, four languages. Still the same team, still answering WhatsApp messages at 10pm, still inspecting every room ourselves.

Meet the team

The people who answer your messages.

No call centre. No outsourced ops. The same team that greets you at the airport is the team that built Vanmates from a single house.

Aldo Rodriguez

Founder · Vancouver

Runs operations across all three cities and still personally inspects every new Vancouver property. Speaks Spanish and English.

Tamara Chen

Toronto lead

Heads up our Toronto office. Came to Canada as a student in 2015, knows the arrival experience from the inside. Speaks Mandarin and English.

Jorge Mendez

House manager · Vancouver

Maintenance, cleaning coordination, and airport pickups across Vancouver. The person most likely to greet you on arrival day.

Brian O'Neill

House manager · Toronto

Handles Toronto's daily operations. Ex-hospitality, big on response time. On WhatsApp basically always.

Where to find us

Three cities, one welcoming team.

Each office runs local operations — inspections, move-ins, house manager coordination — staffed by people who live in and love that city.

Vancouver

717 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 1G9

15 homesKitsilano · Mount Pleasant · Downtown · Burnaby

Toronto

88 Bloor Street East
Toronto, ON M4W 3G9

12 homesThe Annex · Riverdale · Midtown · Near York U

Montréal

Plateau-Mont-Royal
Montréal, QC

7 homesMcGill · Concordia · Plateau