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The Cactus Tree Community

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Forming
  • Social
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 2020

What we do

PLEASE NOTE: We are on pause with active recruitment until we finish construction, and don’t know yet when that will be. If you might be interested in joining us later, please reach out and we will keep you on our list to contact when we are ready to resume. Thank you!
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We currently live in two units (small bungalows) and are in the process of building two more on our adjoining lot. Our founding group includes owners and renters, and we expect some rental turnover. One of the new buildings will include a community space with an outdoor area. We are looking for local non-residential members to join us as well.
We aspire to a culture of inclusion, sharing and openness, with routine in-person interaction among members. For community business and group bonding, we intend to meet weekly over a homemade meal, but encourage more frequent meal-sharing. Roughly once a month we have hosted an organized social event as a community, which can be a member’s birthday, a holiday party, a salon, a game night, a film screening, a vegan barbecue, etc. We encourage ad-hoc social gatherings as well. We have used an online message board for things that come up between meetings, and expect everyone to keep up with community responsibilities.
We share a weekly farm box and save our scraps for compost. We intend to have a small edible garden in the new community yard, and use L2L greywater for non-edible plants. We shop used and buy bulk together whenever possible. We encourage sharing of cars, rides and errands, and of other supplies. We encourage sharing in general!
Our current full-time human residents are all 40-something creative types (and companion animals), but we are interested in age diversity as well as other kinds. The next units opening will be a 1-bedroom and a studio up several flights of stairs. We are friendly with our neighbors, and interested in the needs of our surrounding community.

Our Mission

We are a small community who share a comfortable space in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. We are dedicated to mutual aid, living more sustainably, and cultivating opportunities for creativity and celebration.

  • Purpose
  • Social
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Water conservation and management
  • Activities
  • Property management

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2020
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2020
  • Started living together

Gallery

  • 4 Total members
  • Not open to new members
  • Not open to visitors
Total
4

How to join

Filling out a questionnaire, interviewing, visiting, reading our documents, and a non-residential trial period. People applying in pairs will each go through the membership process separately, as individuals.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

We won’t be ready for visitors until near the end of construction.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Conflict resolution approach

As we grow to include non-residential members, we may develop a committee system, and possibly train in sociocracy.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Yes (2 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
We currently handle shared expenses one at a time, at some point we may move to regular dues (separate from residents’ rent and utilities). The amount of time we put in also varies as needed.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Hot tub or hot springs, Outdoor Kitchen

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Religions
  • Buddhist

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Mixed adults (few or no children)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By several individuals through an LLC or a Tenancy In Common agreement

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Sustainability approach

  • Renewable energy systems
  • Water conservation and management

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden

Source of water

  • Greywater capture and storage for use

Water conservation practices

  • Greywater reuse

Guest Book

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Location

  • California, United States

The Cactus Tree Community

Needs and Offers

Offer
Need
  • Forming Communities
6 months ago

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