Hello, Me and my fiancée are looking to integrate ourselves into a California Central Coast collective. If anybody has information about communes/ intentional living communities in the area, I would really appreciate it if you could share it with us. Much love

Particularly interesting ones like chruches, castles, or abandoned renaissance faires... God i would love to be live in a ren faire ground, supe it up and renovate it into a nice fantasy themed commune. I have bought and sold property before and a managed pretty sizeable parcel for enough i could buy with cash. I would be more than willing to purchase another piece with the hopes of creating a RPG-like community on it this time.

How does your community celebrate the holidays? Please complete this survey so we can learn about your alternative holiday traditions in community. Thanks! https://forms.gle/qBFck8DY1Lg9nZ6V8

Lately, I’ve been feeling stuck, like life is just passing by without much change. It’s hard to shake the feeling that things aren’t moving forward, no matter how much I try. It’s been a bit disheartening, and I’ve found myself questioning if this is really it—if this is all there is.

But deep down, I still believe that there’s something out there, some experience or path that could turn things around. I’m holding onto the hope that a moment of clarity or a new adventure could bring back the excitement and meaning I’ve been missing. I just need to find it.

Creating meaningful change has always been a core value of mine. I am passionate about cultivating joy, building deep connections, and working toward a better world for ourselves and future generations. My dream is to live in a community where kindness, respect, and understanding thrive—even in times of disagreement—and where we actively care for the land we call home. So I'm genuinely curious if anyone knows of communities I can join in and/or around pennsylvania

As is posted on here on occasion I would like to start an IC. I have the land, been living here for 30yrs. Have some improvements already built and more planned. I would like it to be a maker/builder focused also already have a greenhouse built and outdoor gardens. Open to input from others in terms of the finer details.

Lastly this is located near Fairplay, Colorado. Message if interested or leave a comment or question below.

Brief version: Anyone have (1) a contract / agreement for an intentional community which they can share (perhaps hide names etc)? and/or (2) same but where one person owns the land and building, and residents don't share a kitchen or bathroom with the owner (who may or may not live there)?

In my mind everyone including the owner (me) would be contributing and benefiting roughly proportionally.

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When I had housemates, our home was perhaps the happiest in Toronto. Then I fell in love with someone who lived 90 minutes away and needed to be there, so we rented a place together out there. A year later, 2 of my 3 former housemates moved out of Ontario. Without me or them at the house, and with insurance and various government regulators telling me I need to make the spaces separate units*, the house became a regular triplex, with no sense of community between residents.

(* each already had its own bathroom and kitchenette, but we shared my kitchen and used the laundry in my bathroom, and there were no internal locks, and doors generally stayed open / there was no door to the upper kitchenette, and we shared the front and back garden)

Becoming a conventional triplex, the home lost its soul.

Can I make it an intentional community?

A married couple who were on the 1st floor for 9 years bought a house and are moving out. I really like the basement tenant and the front 2nd floor couple (married). The house now has 4 apartments (kitchenette added) (the layout didn't work as 3 separate apartments), and someone who shares my love for living in community wants to move into the 2nd floor back apartment.

What kind of contract / agreement can we have? I want honoring the intention for the house to be at the core. People would be free to live independent lives of course, but should also honor the intention. (Briefly stated: learning to live ecologically, perhaps with gardening and dancing and organic improv theatre, inspired to together create a great home-for-your-home.)

Laws meant to protect tenants can hurt other tenants and harm community. Most tenants have been fine/good, but 3 were not.

One tenant smoked (cigarettes) indoors, in violation of the lease, every day, but there was no way to get proof, and the tenant most bothered by the smell was afraid of angering that tenant so didn't want to report it or sign testimony.

One tenant was terribly noisy, and another was terribly messy (example: running in the park next door's mud/slush then wearing his boots up the carpeted stairs instead of using the boot rack (inside where it's warm), but apparently (I was told) even though Ontario's Landlord-Tenant Board acknowledges the rights of other tenants, they would not intervene - their standards are too low, they don't care about people feeling a sense of home together.

I tried to connect with each of those tenants in a personal way - to appeal to their dreams, their humanity - no need to talk in a way that feels like conflict, I thought. Didn't work.

Some people are so focused on rights they have no sense of care.

If I do a better job of interviewing people, getting to know what they're really like, then there won't be a need for a contract. They'll be great for the house so the contract will be superfluous. But after trying that I still ended up with two of the difficult tenants (who succeeded in saying what they thought I wanted to hear), so I don't want to make that same mistake.

(I can try to have every one in the house approve a new tenant, but if someone is away or seriously busy or has a conflicting schedule then it can be hard to get everyone to meet, and an applicant might need to know without delay so they don't lose out on another place they like almost-as-much, so I want to invite others to approve a new tenant but let me decide if they can't meet.)

Unless the owner and tenant share a kitchen or bathroom (and only if required to do so, and only if that requirement is for a physical reason (there is only one kitchen or bathroom)), Ontario rentals are required to use a standard lease. Additions can be made to that lease but if an additional note conflicts with rental laws then it is void.

I want to create a contract that's better than the standard lease. A contract for people who want better than the minimum standard.

Ignoring the bit about Ontario's Standard Lease (since most Reddit readers are outside Ontario, and I hope my question helps others too):

Anyone have (1) a contract / agreement for an intentional community which they can share (perhaps hide names etc)? and/or (2) same but where one person owns the land and building, and residents don't share a kitchen or bathroom with the owner (who may or may not live there)?

Can a landlord convert rentals to an intentional community?

Thanks

Sorry the detailed version was so long.

Hello everyone.. Does anyone know of any co-living spaces or communities in New Orleans? I’m looking for recommendations or leads. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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We made it thru hurricane Milton and are back doing election work again in Florida.

A group of mostly intentional community people are working serveral differnt elections in Florida including the reproductive rights amendment. We have registered a lot of people, fostered free rides to the polls services and gone to Haitian churches and stores and postered in Creole about election services. If that is exciting to you, you could still join us (either in Florida) or helping from afar (what we call the "airteam"). Here is the latest update of what we have done.

https://preview.redd.it/hux4xqcvn1wd1.png?width=758&format=png&auto=webp&s=759b397c8cca715a382b1bf7f253e728fc4c6785

Hello, I am traveling to south America next month and I'd like to go to intentional living communities and visit for extended periods of time. any recommendations?

Though we aren't an official IC, we have lived intentionally for 2 years. The last member left today and I am heart broken. I don't know what's next, I don't even know what I want anymore. I'm happy to see my friends living the lives they want, but it feels very lonely. I never expected it to be easy, but I wasn't prepared for this to hit me so hard.

Updated from my initial list 18 days ago after reading feedbacks etc.

Neighborhood watch, emergency preparation and training

Meal share club

Car, bike and ride share club

Auto maintenance/repair club

Childcare club

Afterschool care club

Parents group like arranging play dates, shared transportation, and kids activities not in a regular afterschool program (added 10/20/24)

Home school club

Neighborly visits club, to visit neighbors who signed-up

Home maintenance & remodel share club

Gardening & landscaping share club

DIY and workshop share club (wood, metal, robotics, electronics, etc.)

Children clothes & toys sharing club

Tools share club

Video or movie watching group

Theater or performing arts club

Pet care and pet sitting club

Book reading share club

Shopping and excursion share club

Fitness accountability club such as jogging, gym, yoga, etc. (added 10/18/24)

Office, meeting room, etc. rented in the community house or from a resident (added 10/18/24)

College education club, like campus for distance learning students

Other volunteering activities like pickup/delivery of donations

Everything is a bit different in community, businesses don't grow and die quite the same way. Here is a look into how the hammocks business helped develop Twin Oaks and why the warehouse fire made it impossible for us to go back.

Here is the story of the Last Hammock

Hammocks manager take the last jig out of the shop

In Australia, many country towns have passed their heyday but some grand historic buildings remain, including beautiful old two-storey hotels, verandahs top and bottom, bar and dining areas downstairs, accommodation upstairs. These can be purchased for about the same cost as a three bedroom house in a nondescript Sydney suburb (ie, a million bucks).

How would it work for a group seeking intentional community to buy an old hotel like this, live in the accommodation, run the pub and perhaps expand to include community markets, an organic farm (some properties are on a largish block) and training events such as permaculture courses?

Is that a vision that IC people would find attractive, do you think?

Ideal location < 45m Seattle.

I previously lived in a rented house in Kent with ten people. Half of us were only paying $500/mo in rent. A few of us lived rent free because we were doing work that benefitted everybody else.

It was really nice and most of us were very happy for our little community. Three bedrooms, mostly shared BR for couples and friends. A van for a van dweller. Power was ran to three trailers using electrical cord. Ghetto, but it worked.

Illegal? Yes. But we never had a problem so we didn't care. We all had plans of working together to purchase a second property and relocate for permanent community. Unfortunately, our leader, who was on the lease, was a rage-a-holic that kept destroying property, threatening people, being weird, and acting like a sexual predator. So the whole thing fell apart and everybody left.

I want to make this happen again with a new group. Together, we had a lot of money. We could have made great things happen. My goal is to find people that want cheap rent. My lease expires in about four months and then I'm month-to-month which makes it easy to move to a new property. Renting an entire house is expensive, you need to save up for first, last, deposit, etc. $10,000 easy. We will need people who can chip in. I would like to do this ethically, so this also means finding a landlord that doesn't care. We might pay them a little extra to look the other way. Fair is fair.

I'm not afraid to make sacrifices. I can happily live and sleep in my car on property if that makes the financials work better or if too many people are weird about sharing rooms, etc. Whatever.

Why guards need intentional community:
I work as a security guard. I have $1,000 / mo disposable for rent or investment. Most of us guards are doing 12 hr shifts, and up to 60 hours per week is also normal, along with zero overtime pay. It's expensive to spend $1,000 to $1700 per month to rent a room where you're already gone most of the time, only going there to sleep, rest, and eat before the next shift. Sometimes, we're only awake about 3 hours per day at home. The rest of the time is sleeping. Some of us work 80 hours a week and are literally gone more than home.

It just doesn't make sense to pay high rents for an empty room when our needs are so simple, basic, and limited. The way most security companies and contracts work, day shift is 0600-1800 and night shift is 1800-0600. That means that two guards could share a room but never see each other for months at a time.

I tried talking to the guys at my company to form an IC, but there's not enough of them who are like minded about cutting rent expenses.

Long term plan:
Combine assets to purchase land, build simple, live cheap. Have our own land with our own rules and even less oversight.

There's many cheap ways to live.
Camp in your car, build an actual campgrounds or RV park to accommodate RVs, trailers, campers, tiny houses, etc.

Primary construction:
After acquiring land, primary focus will be sanitation. I.e. building a small garage structure which passes code well enough for access to electrical grid, septic, well house, etc. We'll get an electric portable hot water heater, shower, sink, and a cook station going in the garage. Remaining space becomes community room for rest and entertainment.

If water rights are too hard to obtain, we'll just haul it in to a cistern and work toward water catchment.

Deforestation to provide safe locations for building.
Basic compacted dirt/gravel roadways.

I've lived in tents and slept on floors. I've done dishes in a bathtub without hot water. I've survived Winter without heat. Everything is possible for those with enough will and determination to make it work. Whinging complaints are invalid, and I want to ideally find people who are ready, long term, to build and homestead together. As you can tell, the goal of this community isn't poorly washed vegan hippies running a garden to sell weird produce in a shack by the road whine pontificating about how help is great. Everybody has their own job and their own money. If someone wants to work the land, sure, be my guest. Just don't be weird about it and start making up rules telling other people what they can and can't do. Bossiness and bossy attitudes will be kept at a minimum.

To keep things both fair and simple longterm, rent will be a per person divided share of any monthly mortgage payment or house rent. E.g. if we're three years down the road, no land yet, renting a house, and the rent goes up or down, everybody goes up or down with it, fractionally. Fair and fractional. If we get into ownership, we can have meetings to determine what kind of mortgage schedule and payments we can bear. Once the mortgage is paid off, we're only worrying about taxes and utilities. Cheap living is ours. A yearly meeting will be held to discuss arrangements to make an annual balloon payment to pay the mortgage down faster. Anyone that contributes to paying it fast gets an equal share of equity, but that does not give them the right to demand sale of property if they decide they want to cash out some day. That would result in another meeting where we would find a way to finance their cash-out payment so they get their equity and we keep the property. The community stays.

Self determination and voting: Anyone living and paying gets a vote toward determining things such as what we choose to build. Someone wants to build a gazebo or a sauna? Cool. We'll talk about it and decide together for permission. That doesn't mean everybody else is going to pay for your idea. Financing approved ideas would be a separate talk. This means anyone living on the property never gets stuck paying for extra shit they didn't vote for, even if the vote passes. Fair is fair.

Secondary construction:
sanitation and electrical hookups in style of RV park to provide utilities throughout property. Construction of large decks or concrete platforms for semi-mobile shelters such as yurts, tiny house on wheels, cars, RVs, trailers, etc.

The goal is not to make a sprawling community with lots of people, members who are there during stages of financial involvement will have control and opportunity to build within reasonable limitations to have their own private accommodations.

Shit hits the fan scenario:
In the event that the feds decide to break up our compound, we will have meetings to discuss how to fairly dissolve it and split any expenses and proceeds from sale, etc. I.e. we'll figure it out. Keep your receipts. Property will eventually be legally incorporated into something like an LLC so that investment and membership is protected in the event that a lease holder is deceased, sued, experiences medical debt, etc. Life goes on, uninterrupted and property stays secure, no matter what. Once we're ready to own, we'll have a lawyer draft up the legalese to keep everybody protected.

My name is Lorena, born and raised in Tapachula, Chiapas México.

For the past four years, I’ve had the privilege of nurturing Alma Mactzil, a community and retreat center whose essence is captured in its name, born out of the words Alma (meaning “soul” in Spanish) and Mactzil (meaning “miracle” in Mayan), offering an opportunity to self-explore, transform, and grow through solitary retreats and community living, opening the doors of our home to those seeking a sanctuary of peace, healing and security.

Surrounded by Waterfalls and the Tacaná Volcano in the state of Chiapas in Southern México, we are only a short distance (10 km) from Tapachula, a friendly city bustling with markets and natural beauty around from Mayan pyramids, la ruta del café, waterfalls, hotsprings, mangroves, Tacana Volcano, rivers and beaches.

This property has been in my family for over a century, once serving as my grandparents' coffee farm. For the past few years, I have called this place home, creating a space for transformational retreats and sharing the wisdom of my ancestors and this land with those who seek healing, peace, and community. Now, however, my life is calling me in new directions. I’m working in the city and diving deep into a master’s degree in psycho-oncology—a passion that fuels me but also requires more of my time and focus.

Though I live only 20 minutes away, balancing the demands of logistics, community members and a volunteer program along with my work and studies has become too much for me to sustain on my own.This is where you come in.

Alma Mactzil is ready for someone (or a few someones!) who feel called to continue this journey. I would love to connect with people who feel a genuine desire to create community and hold space for those seeking healing and connection.

Whether you’re interested in renting, partnering, or finding a creative way to collaborate, my heart is open to new possibilities. I’ll always be nearby, happy to support and co-create in ways that feel right for us both.If you feel drawn to the spirit of this place and sense a pull to help shape its future, I’d be honored to share more. Let’s talk, dream, and imagine together what the next chapter of Alma Mactzil might look like.  With love and excitement,
Lorena

Hey folks! I have been living in WNC for over a year now and I’m finally starting to get a real lay of the land and feel for the state here. After Hurricane Helene, The part of WNC where I live was devastated all the way down to Asheville. With everyone somewhat having to press the reset button, a lot of people are displaced and I have seen the real love of humanity shine. With everyone pitching in and helping one another it really makes me want to live in a commune/ IC. It’s hard seeing everyone work so hard to rebuild, just to return to a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle in a failing economy. I hope that some of us are finally ready to start an Intentional Community that can work with the world around us, yet giving us folk a community that will take care of one another. Even when there isn’t a natural disaster. If anyone is in the “area” and would like to start discussing ideas I would love to try and start something or even get a real conversation started about creating and IC. Thanks for reading 🙏

I am currently traveling the world looking for ideas for building a sustainable, inclusive and socially and ethically conscious IC. This notion of having my own space to encapsulate my people and our stuff is repugnant to me! So many of the IC’s require purchasing a land-share or building a dwelling and then being tied to a specific location with a specific group of people.

What if an IC could be more fluid, more organic and could be both a home for some that choose a more fixed living arrangement and a nomadic way station for travelers? Half the beds (or hammocks) could be devoted to “locals” or long-term residents and half would support daily/weekly stay guests and vacationers. I’m envisioning revenue centers where the locals could work, make money to subsidize their modest rents:

Kitchen / Restaurant House Keeping / Custodial / Maintenance / Laundry Barber / Salon / Spa

Staff would provide services and feed other staff, in addition to caring for guests.

This model could be scaled to any size, depending on local population, but would ideally, initially focus on close-in locations convenient to airports and urban centers.

These could be employee-owned, for-profit businesses or even franchises. Once a few of these are up and running, employees could potentially move between locations. Travel has been a mind blowing education for me and I think if more people could experience living/working/playing outside of their native countries there would be more patience and compassion for other cultures. People living in community, taking care of their own daily needs while helping others in a sustainable, creative and positive way is the goal. Does this resonate with anyone? I don’t want to be tied down to a single physical location right now, but one day I might. I think it would be great to have a network of micro-communities that could support both the needs of some for security and stability while also catering to the wanderlust and travel desires of a generation of digital nomads. I think a healthy hybrid model that caters to both could be magical. Thoughts? Much love and appreciation for all of you. 💫☮️❤️🙂🏠☕️

I'm 46 female & enjoy slow, simple living. My dreams are of pleasures of basic living. Slowing down to treasure the truly priceless blessings of life. Sharing the exiliration only possible with another...the beauty of life. A remote mountain cabin, rural farm, off grid community, homestead, permie group, ranch are all possibilities. Around those that care about simple, ethical, & sustainable joyful living. Ideally at least a partial work for stay arrangement but not required. I’ve done all types of woofing & work away but ultimately in search of my tribe & significant other. Trusting the right person will see this & know. I would be happy to get out of this suffocating city! Some of my interests include music, hiking, reading, art, bird watching, cycling, camping, gardening, crochet, writing, too many to list. I’m interested in learning more about off grid, primitive living, foraging, weaving, outdoor cooking, etc. After a series of life changing events I began to open my eyes and evaluate what is important to me. I quit my job & distanced myself from society. I did some traveling & volunteer work sometimes combining the two. Although I enjoyed it, I was disappointed learning that in reality, the philanthropy sphere is not about helping. This got me looking deeper. I learned modern society functions as designed by and for the .01% shielding them from the poverty, exploitation, racism etc the commons must suffer. The plundering of earth for commodities continues though we can all hear its screams, what can one person do? Consumerism/capitalism & the systems that keep society “functioning” dominate conversations, ideas, & life of the majority. Alternative ideas are ignored, dismissed without merit, & aggressively persecuted. I know for me to be alive today, others suffer. I ask myself, How is living a moral life possible knowing these facts? I’m still searching for an answer. In the meantime… I thru-hiked the historic Appalachian Trail packing 40 lbs living out of a pack for months. Hiking simplifies life to the bare basic requirements which for me brought freedom & exhilaration I never experienced. It was my first time feeling ok in my body. The beauty & magic building a tribe along the trail while harmonizing with the healing power and rhythms of nature…words are inadequate. People claim human nature is selfish but the spirit of community & reciprocity formed organically & worked well. The distance from society allowed clarity to recognize the absurdity in how we live & spend our time daily. It all felt dizzying & disturbingly meaningless upon my return. People automate their lives away buying crap they don’t need that literally fund weapons, genocide, & overseas bank accounts of the ultra wealthy. The increasing level of disgust I feel around the promoted societal norms & values is debilitating at times. I find myself lonely, sad, & unfulfilled even when around others. Everything feels so cheap, superficial, & for sale. I just can’t pretend everything is fine anymore. Nature is our connection to each other and the infinite we’re all a part of. Hiking introduced me this core belief & common saying, "The universe has your back & conspires on your behalf." Well, I saw it so often, I'm a fully fledged convert. It hasn't failed me yet. Sorry for the jumpy sometimes incomplete thoughts here. I'm still figuring things out & its all so heavy. If you feel inspired, please reach out. It's a cold, lonely world out here all alone.

Cruzeiro do Sul - Intentional Community Forming

I’m a 65 year old gay, vegan/vegetarian, Whole Foods plant based gringo planning to relocate to CZS for a few years to immerse myself in Brazilian language and culture and look into creating an intentional community, open to all, to improve social connections, quality of life and sustainability. I have no idea if this social experiment will work, but spirit is guiding me to try. I realize this could be a bit of an uphill battle in a country that is largely heterosexual and meat eating. But hey, I love a challenge. I would love to get some feedback from the IC crew and I am open to having online or phone conversations on this subject near and dear to my heart. Many thanks to all. PS: Spirit guided me to this remarkably vibrant small city situated in the state of Acre in the heart of the Amazonian tropical rainforest, a little less than 100K people and surrounded by indigenous populations and tribes… quite an amazing energetic vibe… ❤️

I received an internship at LVMH headquarters in New York and heard about the Outpost Club from my friend. I have never been to New York before (I’m French on a J-1 visa) and I was grateful for the recommendation because I didn’t know where it is safe. I can remain in the same building as her at the Greenpoint House in Brooklyn, just 25 minutes to my work place ! I’m within this property now and there is a large French community that makes it feel like home. Outpost hosted an event in the building’s rooftop which helped me to meet many new people in an unfamiliar city. It has been a convenient option for me in many ways. I didn’t have to purchase any furniture, and if I go back to France, I will not lose any money on temporary purchases as that. I also have the option of extending my stay should I gain a more permanent position within my company, and I can certainly see myself wanting to stay here for the long term. If you’re also looking for a home or in a similar situation as mine, I highly recommend this place.

I’m taking an undergrad class right now that is about religious communes in America as a general uni requirement, and our final project is to write a paper examining a particular commune in the US. The course has five textbooks and talks a lot about major communes such as the Oneida, Twin Oaks, the Farm, and some of the earlier ones, but I wanted to see if there were any interesting ones out there that I could look at that maybe have a crazy history or start but aren't as talked about for whatever reason? Thought this would be a good question for people into the topic.

Hello, looking for advice from those experienced with or having knowledge of such setups.

Plans are in the drafting stage, so just hoping to gain insight to gauge ideas. Book recommendations welcome too.

Met an older couple who want to transition their farm to my family, but keep it in a trust. They want to set it up so they live in their home for another 10-20 years til they pass. They will help us purchase (or just buy fully) a house to put on the land for us to live in. They have suggest we pay $1 per month, and have us agree to care for the land in a natural way, as a farm/restorative habitat. They want to put it in a land trust, so that we cannot sell it to proft or subdivide. They want us to work the land, and to keep on with their vision of sustainable land management. They have suggested that they will pay us in cash for any equity we build or create on the farm. They have said they are well off enough with pension to not need anything for their care as elders.

The house does need the septic replaced. It is also an older house, probably 1950ish.

We are thinking we are ok with all of this....except we want to have a small acreage to be put in our names, for our children to have a guaranteed home and equity.

So... please let me know what y'all think. Currently, i think it sounds like a lot of work, but could be very worth it. Not just financially, but socially too. They are kind and good with our kids, and are Quakers who seem to be very grounded, real, and prudent. We've met them on two trips, and spent 5 days at a home they own.

There's much more to mention, regarding ideas and goals and the current farm projects and products. That all seems like a lot though and somewhat adjacent.

Of course, getting everything in writing is in the plan. But for now, we must figure out how to create this trust.