Unlocking Underused Land: A Tech Founder’s Dynamic Journey to Democratize Real Estate — w/ Laura Fortey

What if a major housing unlock is hiding in plain sight?

This week, Ashley sits down with Laura Fortey — co-founder & COO of Reitium — to unpack how churches, hospitals, and other nonprofits can raise capital (donations, debt, or equity) to build affordable housing while keeping ownership of their land. No bulldozers-for-condos script. Instead: preserve the community anchor, add the homes, and make the math work with modern crowdfunding infrastructure.

They also dive into founder realities — burnout and reset, when to pivot vs. persist, what accelerators actually provide, and why the next era of building in Canada is more human, more in-person, and more collaborative.

In this episode:

• The “sleeping land” opportunity: why church & nonprofit sites matter
• How Reitium structures community-owned development (donations / debt / equity)
• Keeping the land vs. selling out: long-term income for nonprofits
• Policy, mayors, and moving faster by working with (not against) regulation
• Founder lessons: first-mover advantages, timing markets, and agile pivots
• Burnout, boundaries, and the rise of fractional/portfolio careers
• Why IRL rooms still beat DMs — and how serendipity changes outcomes

Topics: housing innovation · community-owned development · crowdfunding · founder resilience · fractional leadership · Canada’s next-gen builders

Find the full episode show notes — with Laura’s podcast and accelerator program mentions — at Canada Now HERE! 👈👈

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🎧 Timestamps:

00:00 — Intro: Democratizing real estate and the “sleeping land” opportunity
01:15 — Laura Fortey joins: A founder’s journey from burnout to purpose
03:30 — What is Reitium? Crowdfunding affordable housing through community ownership
05:45 — The church land model: keeping ownership while creating homes
08:20 — How donations, debt, and equity fuel nonprofit-led development
10:40 — Tokenization, regulation, and why timing the market matters
13:15 — Lessons in agility: pivoting while staying true to your mission
15:40 — Accelerators, mentorship, and learning from ecosystems abroad
18:20 — Why in-person connection still beats remote networking
21:30 — The rise of fractional and portfolio careers for founders
24:00 — Building sustainable companies without losing yourself
27:10 — Generational shifts: younger builders, new priorities
30:05 — Real-world optimism: the future of housing and impact in Canada
33:00 — Networking events and building Canada’s tech ecosystem
36:00 — Women founders, capital gaps, and fundraising realities
39:30 — Advice for new builders and lessons from global accelerators
43:00 — The future o

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