What if housing offered more than four walls and gave residents a real voice in how they live? In this episode, Dia talks with McKenzie Jones, a founding owner of Ithaca’s Aurora Pocket Neighborhood Cooperative, about co-living, cohousing, pocket neighborhoods, and legal housing co-ops.

Learn how these models can help people pool resources, share costs and responsibilities, build trust, and create a practical safety net without pretending community life is effortless.

McKenzie explains why clear agreements, democratic decision-making, and “one member, one vote” matter, and how cooperative habits can begin without buying property: a shared meal, garden, snowblower, or offer of help can be a first step. Could your neighborhood do this? Listen and subscribe to the Ithaca Local Economy Lab.

In this episode:

• How a housing cooperative can actually work, who holds title, who decides, and what happens when someone can't pay
• The decision-making matrix: the foundational tool co-ops use before they decide who mows the lawn
• The surprisingly varied types of financing available to cooperative developers
• The safety net: how housing co-ops are mutual aid and social justice juggernauts
• Where housing co-ops and worker co-ops share the same principles
• How to start building cooperative community right now, with no money and no paperwork

Resources and Links

• The Worker Place: theworkerplace.coop
• Launch.coop
• NASCO (National Association of Student Cooperatives): nasco.coop
• Sustainable Economies Law Center: theselc.org
• Co-Op Decision Matrix: www.stl.coop/coop-guide/decisionmaking
• Ithaca Local Economy Lab: ithacalocaleconomylab.com
• Foundation for Intentional Community: www.ic.org

The Practically Real Team:

• Jake Gribschaw - Technical Advisor linkedin.com/in/jgribschaw
• Stacey Cornelius - Associate Producer agencyofwords.com
• Sonia Simone - Content Strategist remarkable-communication.com
• Erin O'Shaughnessy - Creative Consultant psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/erin-o-shaughnessy-depoe-bay-or/373808
• Yen Ospina - Artist yenospina.com
• Carsie Blanton - Musician carsieblanton.com
• Photography by Forest Floor Creatives forestfloorcreatives.com

Produced by Practically Real Enterprises, LLC. Hosted by Dia.