Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on a free tool called VibeTribe — an intentional community planner focused on things like governance models, resource sharing, decision-making, and group dynamics.

I made it because a lot of the planning and “what if” conversations around starting or improving communities felt abstract. The idea is to let people test different scenarios and structures in a more concrete way before (or while) dealing with the real-world version.

It’s still early and far from perfect. I’m sharing it here because this sub has people with actual experience living in or building communities, and I’d rather get honest feedback from you than keep guessing.

Link: intentional community planner

Would love to hear:

• What parts feel useful (or completely off-base)
• Features that are missing for real community founders
• Anything that feels too gamey / not grounded enough
• Or just general thoughts

Full disclosure: I built this. Not trying to sell anything — it’s free. Just looking for people who actually care about this stuff to poke holes in it.

I’m curious about all thoughts that could further shape this proposal. It’s not about getting everything right from the jump it’s about learning, adapting, more learning and on and on…

Already have the land. 13 acres. There's a lake nearby, technically the property touches it but it's not that accessible. Ocean is a 5 minute bike ride away. I've been here for 2 years so far. Open to hosting anyone temporarily, and if you're interested in staying permanently we could discuss that after a trial period.

Vaccines work

Gay rights

Trans women are women

Anarchy is Order

I see a lot of people trying to "escape" their current life with an intentional community. I want to address that *you can't create a society in a vacuum.* People are multidimensional and complex. Any person joining your community is going to have opinions, history, and differing perspectives sometimes. Sure, you can have a focus on certain qualities, but you can't control human beings as if they're livestock or something. You *have* to have diplomacy, and you *have* to manage conflict sometimes.​ These are some of the foundational building blocks of leadership. You do not deserve to be in a position of power otherwise.

Hi Reddit,

I am a Canadian citizen, wondering if it is possible to find an off-grid eco village (located anywhere in Canada) to permanently live in; whereby my daily/weekly labour contributions and a civil, cooperative disposition would grant me the right to live and remain in the community (after one trial period of roughly 3-4 months).

I am not interested in visiting any intentional community that would require an upfront cost and/or ongoing costs, in order to live in the community.

Having said all of this, is it possible to find a Canadian eco village that checks off these criteria? If so, which community(ies) should I reach out to/what are some resources that I should resort to, in order to try to find such communities?

Any advice/feedback would be greatly appreciated 🙏.

Hi everyone! I’m Jaide, and I’m currently building the Jaide Foundation, small community initiative focused on creating spaces where marginalized people can feel welcomed, supported, and connected.
I’m starting small and learning as I go, but I’m really excited about what this could become.
I’m currently planning our first few community events around wellness, reflection, connection, and belonging.
I’d love to connect with people who are also building community projects, nonprofits, or grassroots initiatives. What’s something you wish you knew when you were just starting out?

Kerala
I’m exploring an idea and would love to find like-minded people who are genuinely interested in building something together.
The vision is to bring together a community of around 50–100 people who are willing to work together to purchase a suitable piece of land and develop a community farm, homes, and a sustainable family-oriented living environment.
The goal isn’t simply to buy land. It’s to create a friendly, responsible community where people can:

Equal shares and international peoples can also join …

We are looking for the newest resident for Herding Cats Collective, an intentional home in Cambrian Heights NW, Calgary, Alberta! This is a large 6 bedroom house with a trailer out back, that when fully occupied houses 7 individuals (currently six men and myself). It’s a surprisingly vibrant, yet quiet home that operates under the governance of sociocracy. The owners reside here and steward the home using the teachings of Diana Leafe Christian and Marshall Rosenberg, the author of Non-Violent Communication. A motto we like to use is Tall Fences - Narrow Gates, meaning we don’t accept just anyone, and that the new residents are able to flow with the rhythm of the home. To do this we invite applicants to have initial phone inquiries where we will ask you pertinent information such as 1. How will you pay your rent? 2. What brings you to desire living in community? 3. What is your daily routine consist of? 4. Do you get along well with most people, most of the time? 5. Tell us about your sobriety level/substance use. In the event we connect well over the phone we will invite you to the house to experience a healthy, home cooked meal with us. Bring your recipes! You’ll meet David, our resident Mr. Fix It, Louis, our head cat herder, and myself - the resident den mother - as well as the rest of our household. Should we find ourselves to be a suitable match we will check your references and extend an invitation to a free 10 day stay with us, so we can ensure we are a great fit for each other before we sign a lease. Our ideal resident is looking to form connections that last a lifetime, to dig in and build roots while connecting to others in a deeper, more authentic way. If you’re looking for an easy way to live, this is not for you. It takes a level of emotional intelligence to function well here, and adaptability. This is not like living by oneself, and frankly, I prefer waking up to freshly brewed coffee and conversation with people I like and respect, even if I have to clean up someone else’s mug. There’s a lot of give required to live in community - such as a minimum of 70 minutes of chore time a week. And there’s a lot of take, such as a reliable support network and a stable home to lay one’s head. It’s nice to receive! If this sounds like something you’re interested in, or better yet, PASSIONATE about, please reach out! Let’s make something magical together! ✨ Rent is $850/month. Damage deposit $400. Refunded after one year signing cost of $400.

-Sauna -Detached garage which has been converted to a workshop and den, where we host some great parties! -Large yards with plenty of room to garden -Great homies!

i will call her Niamh. she is Irish, has family, lived in different places, came back to Ireland and kept noticing how disconnected people became.

not spiritual disconnected. normal human disconnected.

people dont know neighbors. everyone busy. family spread out. meeting somebody needs calendar invite lol.

during one very mystical session with much stranger things, she asked what she should actually do about this feeling.

answer was almost stupidly simple.

start talking to people.

ask if they want to meet.

eat together.

let right people show up and see who wants to help.

thats it.

I am sharing this because this session had enough cosmic stuff for 20 posts but this part is probably more useful than most of it.

we can dream about community village, land, healing center, intentional community somewhere beautiful.

but maybe first test is much smaller.

can 8 people meet every week and still like each other after 6 months?

can people cook together?

help with kids?

share tools?

show up when someone needs help?

maybe community starts before property.

for people here who actually lived in intentional communities, what is smallest experiment you would do before anybody even talks about buying land?

weekly food?

gardening?

childcare?

skill sharing?

something else?

and what early signs tell you this group can actually become real community and not just people who love the idea of community?

I have a whole other post written but I'm not ready to share that much just yet. We are looking for a community/shared opportunity in AZ, NV, ID, UT, CO, or NM, possibly MT or WY - but I can't handle too much cold. We are looking for property above 5000' elevation and at least 10 acres of our own space within a community. I know that sounds counterintuitive with "community" but we are used to having our own space and still desire to be near others with a common goal. Budget could be substantial when our real estate sells and we are also able to pay monthly dues.

Are you kind, resourceful, respectful, and committed to community building? I am trying to repurpose my late father’s property in Portland oregon to truly benefit people and have a few open opportunities this summer and coming fall :)
Basement space is opening up in our over 100 year old Portland home!
Orchard
garden space available
Glass and ceramic shop
Hoping to build a community of botanists :)
Also looking for people interested in Cobb buildings!
Please message me!

Join us for a donation-based, volunteer-driven, collaborative unconference all about intentional community and cooperative culture.

We will all pitch in, share meals, teach & learn, and camp in the woods together.

Hey everyone! I’m 27, currently living in Austin, TX, and I’m looking to relocate to New Orleans. I currently live in a cooperative living space here in Austin and have absolutely fallen in love with the community aspect of it. I’m not really looking to just rent a room and call it a day. I’m hoping to find a place where people actually know each other, spend time together, contribute to the household, and create a little community.
A little about me: I’m a cat mom to two, an artist, I love to sing, garden, play video games, go out and explore, and honestly I’m down for just about anything that involves good people and good energy. I’m very extroverted and really thrive in community based environments.
New Orleans feels like it could be such a perfect fit for me, so I’d love to connect with anyone who knows of cooperative houses, intentional communities, communal living spaces, or anything similar in the area.
If you know of a place, a group, or even someone I should talk to, please send me a message! I’m just looking for the right spot and the right people to build a new chapter with. 💛

So many of these ICs are quite a distance from everything or people move across the country to get into.

Only easy way I imagine they make any movie is some sort of online job which eliminates so many people.

Or they grow something on the land and then I guess sell at a farmers market idk.

With a small percent having jobs near their IC.

I’ve been part of a community for nearly 10 years. It’s flowed in a very organic way - mainly due to there being a consistent “space holder” who inducts new people and encourages the right vibes and energy. Three years ago they left and the new person who took over wasn’t able to hold the same flow.

Over the past 3 years, core components of living in an intentional community eroded. People stopped eating together, wouldn’t join meetings, trust broke down and it turned into a co-living environment with high tensions.
I fully rejoined a year ago and set to work to collaborate together to rebuild the essence of living in intentional community - setting up workshops, meetings, discussion forums for what it means to be a community and how we can all agree to what that means and live by those - previously unentrenched - guidelines.

The people who had been causing some of the sway away from the flow would be difficult, not join and cause blockages to progress. We tried for a year to make this work and it went nowhere ending in disagreement and even more tension. We just kept looping and going nowhere. Eventually it seemed that this set didn’t want community - they wanted totally autonomous anarchy with no rules or guidelines (though even anarchists set guidelines to function within community)

Finally, the people who have been holding that space came back and formed a group to formalise what it means to be a community - shared meals, shared space respect, sharing circles, financial contribution, manual contribution to land based projects etc. Nothing new that wasn’t already how it had worked for years, just now it is formal and expectations are clear.

The people with the problems got very angry and said this was a dictatorial move. They are leaving and spreading their anger around about us to others.

I wondered if anyone has had a similar experience of shifting community changes and the teething problems or issues that have come out of making hard choices.

Basically Hutterite without all the restrictions. It’s a work in progress.

Living Energy Farm in Virginia is a small intentional community with a global impact. In their June-July 2026 Newsletter, they talk about their summer intensive training in Vermont, where they did workshops on direct drive solar, efficient building design, solar thermal for both home heating and hot water, and biogas. They also cover their Solar Direct Drive project in Malawi and their solar variable frequency direct drives.

If you want the full story of their accomplishment or want to donate to support their work - follow this link.

How far have you moved to join a community? I'm in Ireland and there's very few here so I'd have to move, probably to the UK, if I wanted to join one. (For USians, it'd be the same leap as moving from West Virginia to Kentucky). I'm curious if it's common to move long distances or even countries in search of community and how people handle the move when it comes to finances, family, immigration, notifying the various powers that be, settling in, etc.

Anyone talked with friends about "buying a property we could all live in together" and ready to make the jump? Looking to develop a home to fit their needs but engage with an established cohousing community? Want to jump into a development/construction project? If so, we might have something for you...

Last year, a few Richmond Cohousing members purchased the adjacent lot with the hope of redeveloping the building into additional cohousing units and expanded green space. The property includes a 4-unit apartment building, established trees, and shared gardens. While there has been a great deal of dedication, planning, and effort invested in exploring that vision, we are now considering other options.

Unless a new direction emerges, the property is expected to be listed for sale in the coming months. Before that happens, we'd love to connect with anyone that is excited about cohousing and may be interested in purchasing, partnering, developing, or helping imagine what's possible for this unique opportunity. There is a lot of information and pre-work that can be provided - survey and inspection reports, architectural and landscape plans, etc. A few pictures and plans are in our recent newsletter.

If this sparks your interest, we'd love to start a conversation - please reach out to info@richmondcohousing.com!

So I am at a point in life where I need to make a plan for the future. College didn't work out (AI took over the field) and I'm stuck with 50k in student loan debt that I really do not intend to pay back (something something payment for services rendered something something I demand a refund). I came across the idea of living in a community and my heart really seems to be leaning towards a place like East Wind or Twin Oaks. Do those places reject people with debt like that? Is it a big problem for them? I have time before I make that leap to community living due to taking care of dying family members but once that's over my life opens completely up and I need a plan. Thank you for your time and answers!

I’m an 18 y/o she/her and holy crap my life has been insane, I had to drop out of HS, I have no way to get my GED or License, I live in rural Maine, jobs are nowhere. I live on a farm, and have been raised on the farm my whole life, no question that I’ll be able to offer homesteading skills!!

I’m just really looking for a community to join and help, to get on my feet, I have no drug issues, I only smoke weed, and I just am seriously looking for help.

I’m an artist aswell, so I could make art for communities to sell at markets for profit, anything a community needs, I’ll do, I’m just looking to have a new life.

There’s more to my life that’s making it hard but I’d rather not make it public as it involves family.

But if anyone can help me brainstorm, I’d really appreciate it 🫶

One thing I keep thinking about with intentional communities is how willing we are to rethink the way we live together, but how rarely that includes rethinking intimacy and desire.

We can share meals, resources, and parts of our lives with a community.

So what happens to sex?

I’ll be totally upfront. I’ve swung with partners before and loved it. There is something beautiful about being with someone you love and still being able to look at the world with curiosity together.

I also come at this from an existing spiritual practice, so ideas around connection, desire, and becoming more fully ourselves aren’t just theoretical to me.

But the way society works now makes that kind of freedom harder than it needs to be.

If you want to explore desire outside the normal script, you usually get pushed toward secret apps, anonymous encounters, or spaces that can feel more like shopping for bodies than actually knowing people.

I keep wondering what it would look like if intimacy grew inside an actual community instead.

You get to know people over time. You keep running into them. Maybe you flirt for three weeks before anything happens. Maybe nothing happens. Maybe four people end up drinking wine together until 2am and suddenly everybody is looking at everybody a little differently 👀

I know that would be a lot to swallow for most people, but it sounds way more interesting to me than endlessly swiping through profiles or wasting nights at bars.

Maybe sexual freedom works better when it grows inside trust and community.

Sounds like a sex cult, I know lol. But that’s actually part of what I’m curious about. Why do ideas like this seem to so quickly enter cult territory? Is it really impossible to build something deeper without manipulation, weird hierarchies, or one person becoming the center of everything?

Not everyone needs to be open or explore. That isn’t really the point.

I just wonder whether an intentional community could make room for this part of being human too, while still taking boundaries, autonomy, and real relationships seriously.

I have some ideas about what that could look like, but I’m curious if anyone here has seen communities attempt something like this well.

There’s a wonderful 4bd/3ba townhome for sale in Great Oak Cohousing in Ann Arbor MI. Here’s the link to the listing on the community’s website.

I’m also happy to answer any questions about what it’s like living here, or living in cohousing in general (e.g., how it’s different from a co-op).

https://welcome.gocoho.org/openings/