As part of Toronto’s Shelter and Housing Justice Network (SHJN), Lorraine Lam is active in struggles related to housing, homelessness, and poverty. She connects her commitment to social justice to growing up in a church setting, saying, "It was there that I learned a lot of the values around what it means to love people and pursue justice work." Lam was drawn into grassroots action in multiple ways. As a university student originally studying music, she started volunteering at a homeless drop-in.