“Being involved in the co-op community in Austin and also starting our own co-op is really exciting to me. Because it’s really what I see as an extraordinary opportunity to really be innovative and create something really new…And that the need that these new things address is just kind of a slow and steady decline of American community life. And I just know that people used to be civically engaged, and just more socially engaged. People generally spent more time together and weren’t as lonely, weren’t as isolated. And that…while…personal independence is really a good thing, I think people can become too independent. And you lose out on really key resources. Socially, economically, and just a variety of different resources become lost when a community becomes too isolated–when members of a community become too isolated. And so helping to start a co-op is really, like I said, a new and innovative way…to kind of re-knit that social fabric.”–McAllen Halsey
McAllen Halsey moved to Austin after serving in AmeriCorps programs in upstate New York and Philadelphia. He was drawn to the Austin cooperative scene after experiencing it in West Philadelphia. After living in several housing co-ops such as House of Commons, Halsey has decided to open his own, non-student housing cooperative in East Austin. He has partnered with Mike Gorse and is currently searching for properties. Listen to Halsey discuss his project, Austin Area Collective Housing, his experience at House of Commons, and the role that his co-op will play in strengthening Austin communities.
You can read the complete transcript of McAllen Halsey and Mike Gorse’s interview here.
Anne Gessler 