Tips on Finding Intentional Communities

The Beast is home to an amazing diversity of collective houses, co-ops, co-housing, communes, and eco-villages! In the best way, living in community supports human relationships, saves us money, living more sustainable on the planet, and growing into better people. Anyone whose lived in a co-op knows, however, that intentional community is no utopia! I've had some of the best times in my life and some of the hardest times living in co-ops as conflicts arise. Yet, when people come together with a collective vision, the right communication and conflict-resolution skills, community housing is the most meaningful way to live in the East Bay. This post shares a few good places to look for existing intentional housing (also check out the links above because they show some really rad thriving communities). There will be a separate post on starting a collective house and some glory & horror stories of living collectively. Read why I "Loved and Left the Commune". 

Co-op Eco City   by Alfred Twu - http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~atwu/firstcultural/fci_main.html

If you're seeking to join an intentional community in the Bay Area there are some great networks and listservs I recommend checking out. This is just a small sample and if you know of some other resource please comment so we can share our knowledge!

Tip #1) If you want to join an existing collective house or co-op I recommend getting on the SFChalkboard Listserv:

To get on the listserv: Email the moderator at sfchalkboard@lists.riseup.net and say that you're interested in intentional community. 
There are posts here (that are all on Craigslist) but this is also a great forum for events, talks, yoga, etc

Tip #2) Facebook groups are also a great way to find housing and have a much higher response rate then Craigslist!

Two really good ones are:

East Bay Community Housing https://www.facebook.com/groups/eastbaycommhousing/ 

Bay Area Conscious Community Housing https://www.facebook.com/groups/303241339725481/ 

Tip #3) To plug into the Co-Housing network check out EBCoHo

http://www.meetup.com/ebcoho/?trax_also_in_algorithm2=original&traxDebug_also_in_algorithm2_picked=original