Innovation or Obsolescence?

With a full time Business Development Leader and an office in Bracebridge, the last two months have been a flurry of activity at the Muskoka Community Land Trust.

Between working with Launch and Prosper and the Rural Development Network on our business plan and financial models, building our board’s policies and procedures manual, walking the planned site of our first housing initiative, and connecting with community supporters, we’ve been busy!

In our regular meetings with the Canadian Network of Canadian Land Trusts, we hear from other land trust colleagues about their successes and challenges, particularly in breaking through to their local municipalities about the need for creative solutions to the problem of housing. It’s become increasingly evident that our very own town and district councillors and staff are exceptional in their willingness to embrace innovation.

In rural communities across Canada, young people are leaving, jobs are going unfilled, and services that used to be readily available are becoming harder and harder to access. Municipalities are grappling with the tremendous amount of services they are responsible for providing, and - often very short on resources - are faced with issues like attainable, affordable housing that demand an extraordinary level of original thinking and collaborative partnerships to work around.

As a colleague of ours said in a recent meeting, “Rural communities from coast to coast to coast are realizing that they need to embrace innovation or embrace obsolescence”. The health and well being of a community depends on it, and municipalities that are scared to create change now are going to have to scramble to catch up later.

Against this national backdrop, the support and collaboration from the District of Muskoka and the Town of Huntsville is even more remarkable. We’re grateful for it every day, and look forward to many more years of fruitful partnership.