Craig Ruttan on Navigating Neighbourhood Change

"It's not possible in this day and age with the challenges we're facing to say ‘No,’ and try to keep neighbourhoods preserved in amber." — Craig Ruttan

Public policy leader and co-home owner Craig Ruttan returns to the podcast to talk about how reality is stacking up against the vision for his cohousing community that he shared with Valery a year and a half ago. On the doorstep of the October 24, 2022 province-wide municipal elections, they also talk about the path to the missing middle and the system ambition needed in face of a worsening housing crisis.  

In this episode:

• How Craig and his three co-owners’ community vision and reality are lining up, a year and a half after their move
• Advice to Craig’s past self: what he wished he had known sooner about co-buying and founding a cohousing community 
• How to get courageous with your neighbours, and the City of Toronto Committee of Adjustment, in pursuit of community expansion and urban densification via laneway house construction
• What to say to the subset of homeowners dedicated to defending their single-family home neighbourhoods from the missing middle and other forms of density (often referred to as NIMBYs) at a critical moment for wealth inequality in our cities, provinces, and country
• Why more neighbours (and groups like @MoreNeighbours and @HousingNowTO) representing future residents who can’t currently afford to live in Toronto are needed to help address the housing crisis
• Policy insights on the path to densification as the de facto reality in a growing city taking too long to end exclusionary zoning

Find Craig: 

Twitter

Find Other Episode References:

Toronto’s Laneway Suites Program

Meeting in the Middle: A Plan to End Exclusionary Zoning and Tackle Ontario’s Housing Crisis

Join Valery’s email list and get bonus content at lifewithoutuspod.com and hang out with her on Instagram @lifewithoutuspod

Thank you for listening, rating, reviewing, and sharing!