Colorful house with garden and flowers under a clear blue sky.

Du•ma

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 1988

What we do

Du•má is a close-knit group of eight to eleven people living together in a beautiful old home on a quiet residential neighborhood in Eugene just south of the University of Oregon.
People of all ages have lived at Duma–from newborn to seniors. During the day people are typically at work and in the evening come together to enjoy vegetarian dinners. We share our living expenses (but not our incomes), nurture our relationships with one another, and share the joys and responsibilities of taking care of our large home.
We have a large lot with an impressive garden that includes fruit trees, berry vines, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. We also have solar panels, a sauna, hot tub, beehive, cob oven, and a chicken coop.
Du•má began as a vision of several people who lived together collectively in the late 1980s. They aspired to buy a home that could be a model of both sustainability and community. The first eight members began living together in 1990. Over the years dozens of people have lived at Du•má–some for many years.
One-by-one every room in the house was renovated, windows replaced, and wood floors re-finished. The gravel parking lot in back was removed and replaced with fruit tress, vegetables, and a deck.
Visitors often remark that we are community is clean and well organized. They notice the many little touches that make our home beautiful and notice that we usually get along well with each other. Visitors who share dinner with us comment on our scrumptious vegetarian meals.
While the founders aspired to have everyone become a co-owner, the responsibility and stamina required to hold a collective vision, nurture community, and be homeowners was more than most people were able to commit to. Over time, members of the core group moved on to other things and by 2009 only one member of the core group remained.
The stewardship of Du•má is now in the hands of one person while the shared day-to-day decisions about food, events, etc. are held by all the residents. With one person taking on this responsibilities of home ownership there’s a clear line of accountability, meetings are shorter, and there are fewer chores for residents. But the trade-off is less group autonomy. In time, the vision is to return to a form of shared ownership and responsibility.
Visitors are welcome to stay on a night-by-night basis for up to 3 nights. Contact us at least one week in advance to make arrangements. Please understand the we receive a lot of inquire so we’re not always able to respond to every inquiry promptly.
From time to time we are looking for people to live with us. We seek people who expect to live at Du•má for at least a year, preferably longer. If this arrangement appeals to you please be in touch.

Our Mission

The mission of Duma is to demonstrate a more sustainable and fulfilling way of living.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Coliving
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Activities
  • Farming

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1988
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1990
  • Started living together
  • 1 Total member
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
19

How to join

We are often seeking people to live with us. Typically the process begins with a written inquiry followed by a phone call. We have a strong preference for people who either live in Eugene or have connections here. If you live locally we will have an initial meeting and tour. If we mutually want to proceed, we will invite you to dinner and/or other activities so we can get to know one another. Often we invite prospective housemates to stay in our guest room for a night or two to see what daily life is like. Ultimately we will have an interview to ask one another questions to help discern whether it’s a good match. The process usually takes three weeks or longer. Generally, the more time we have to get to know one another, the better.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Write or call us at least one week before you wish to visit us. Please understand the we receive a lot of inquire so we’re not always able to respond to every inquiry promptly.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

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

Decision-making process

  • Others

Governance structure

  • Undefined/Evolving

Still developing or unclear governance approach.

Conflict resolution approach

Decisions about day-to-day matters such as chores and our food budget are made by consensus. Decisions related to homeownership are made by the owner.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • 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

Labor: Yes (5 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Contact us for current information about monthly expenses.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Workshop, Hot tub or hot springs, Large Scale Kitchen, Fire pit, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary type

  • Vegetarian Only

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use is prohibited in the community

Gender composition

  • Majority cis (over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Mixed adults (few or no children)

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Oregon, United States

Du•ma

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

Offer
Need
Need
  • Forming Communities
2 weeks ago

A call for pioneers, trade-builders, and the four Elemental Elders to construct our first cooperative village prototype.

Intake Open: Flagship WE Network Village in Clubb, MO Call for pioneers, trade-builders, and 4 Elemental Elders to construct our first cooperative village prototype. WE Network is opening ground zero in Clubb, Missouri—our living model to build trade shops and train leadership teams for nationwide village rollout. We are building a self-sustaining, salvaged homestead ecosystem operating as a parallel society alongside existing systems. Bring your own living setup (tents, micro-campers, trucks, schoolies, tiny homes) to secure your lot within the co-op village. The 3×3 Exchange: Mental, Physical, & Spiritual Maintain your lot via our 3×3 exchange (3 hours/day, 3 days/week = 9 hours total): Mental: Classroom teaching, strategy, skill-sharing, and village instruction. Physical: Hands-on labor building active land and shop projects. Spiritual: Participation in our weekly Friday Fellowship Fire Circle. Trade Shops & Lot Placement Every member contributes directly to our local micro-economy: Trade Holders: Set up your specific service shop for the co-op. Transitioning Members: Assigned a trade lot to focus on constructing the physical shop structure. Weekend Operations: Retail open Saturdays and Sundays. Mid-week is reserved for building and life. Priority Intake: The Four Elemental Elders We are recruiting four foundational Elders: Earth Elder: Land, soil, livestock, permaculture, and natural materials. Air Elder: Building structures and Eco Junk waste-to-material upcycling. Fire Elder: Spiritual health, Natural Law, body healing, and Fire Circles. Water Elder: Resource flow, food storage, bookkeeping, and services. How to Apply 👉 Visit fffc.wtf to submit your intake request today.
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
5 days ago

Co-housing Unit For Sale in Portland Oregon

Light-filled 976 sq ft, 3-bedroom, 1-bath end unit in Columbia Ecovillage, Portland’sestablished cohousing community in the Cully neighborhood. With windows onthree sides, this ground-floor home gets natural light all day, even onPortland’s grey ones. The open living and dining area has warm hardwood floors and flows into akitchen with solid wood cabinets and granite counters. The dining roomwindows look straight into a native vine maple — a wall of green from springthrough fall. There’s good storagein the unit, plus an extra storage space in the community storage building.A ductless mini-split provides efficient heating and air conditioning, andthe plumbing was fully replaced in 2026. The primary bedroom has a full-width closet behind a sliding barn door; thesecond bedroom’s closet sits behind a pair of French doors. The thirdbedroom has no closet, which makes it a flexible room — guest room, office,or playroom. Step out the sliding glass door onto your own covered patio, which opens onto the community grounds: organic gardens, personal garden plots,greenhouses, a grape arbor, a bamboo grove, native plantings throughout, andtrees everywhere — including a truly massive old black walnut. The orchard alone is a reason to live here — to name a few:apples, pears, plums, figs, mulberries, chestnuts, walnuts, grapes,blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, in several varieties each. A75,000-gallon rainwater catchment system keeps it all watered through thesummer. Kids have a playhouse, sandbox, small soccer field, a favorite climbingtree, and a parking loop where bikes can circle but cars can’t; adults havea workshop, garden shed, fire pit, quiet space and big community porches. The common hall is the heart of the village: a commercial kitchen anyresident can use, a kids’ play area, pool table and ping pong, and asoapstone stove that burns every winter evening. Residents can reserve it forevents for almost nothing. The historic farmhouse has guest rooms owners canbook for visiting family (about 30 nights a year). Shared laundry rooms(three washers and dryers) come with indoor drying racks and outdoorclotheslines, and there’s a craft room and a trade room where things you nolonger need find a new home next door. Potlucks, communitymeals, work parties, and acres of safe space for kids to roam makethis a rare chance to own a home and a neighborhood at the same time. Built in 1973 and fully remodeled in 2008–09 for energy efficiency and healthy indoor air — metal roof, HardiePlank siding, and standard community-built finishes throughout. Nothing to update, nothing deferred. The $522 monthly HOA coverswater, sewer, and garbage, plus the roof, siding, exterior paint, and allstructural maintenance — and it’s what pays for the grounds, the common hall,and everything else described above. And it’s close in: Cully’s cafés andparks are a short walk or bike ride away, the rest of Portland’s food,music, and neighborhoods are minutes beyond that, and the commute downtownor to the airport is easy by car, bus, or bike – 3.7-acre grounds with organic gardens, personal plots, greenhouses, native plantings, and mature trees (huge black walnut)- Orchard: apples, pears, plums, figs, mulberries, chestnuts, walnuts, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries- 75,000-gallon rainwater catchment feeds the gardens year-round- Workshop, garden shed, fire pit, quiet space, community porches  
Need
  • Forming Communities
3 weeks ago

Looking for: people building relational capacity, with a view to community

What’s here now: An intention, a framework developed over five years, and a programme running in central Victoria to find people to build with. No land, no group, no timeline. The question this is organised around: What makes a community of people living together sustainable over decades – where people enjoy being there, conflict is low, and the conflict that does arise gets handled in ways people value. The distinctive premise is capacity before formation. Most communities form first and build relational skill afterwards, usually under pressure. This one proposes doing it the other way round: people build the capacities first, and the group forms from people who have them. That includes a working idea about collective capacity – that a group has a ratio, and below some threshold it can’t metabolise its own conflict and starts consuming itself. Roughly: in a group of twenty, perhaps three or four with high capacity, most in the middle, and very few without. Untested, and something this project exists to find out. Governance: Sociocracy, with the intention of testing it meaningfully at scale rather than adopting it nominally. What’s actually happening: A three-week residency at a property near Castlemaine, and a practice group running before it. The medium-term aim is twenty to forty people at a rented facility. The long-term aim is a support hub sharing the framework more widely. What I’m looking for: People who want to build this capacity seriously, and who might eventually want to build something together. Not necessarily people who want to live here – the current property probably isn’t the long-term site. Happy to hear from anyone this resonates with, including people already in community who’d rather share what they’ve learned than join anything.
  • Events
3 weeks ago

Restoring Choice - free online practice group, from Australia

Restoring Choice – free sessions and a practice group Many of us are less practised at three things than we realise: making clear requests, saying no when it isn’t a full yes, and hearing no without something getting damaged. These aren’t personality traits. They’re capacities that were trained out of many of us by ordinary structures – families where some needs were allowed and others weren’t, workplaces that reward overstretch. They can be trained back. Why this might interest people here Most communities teach communication after people arrive, once conflict has already surfaced. This works the other way round – building capacity first, and finding out what a group can do when most people already have it. What’s running Free 60-minute introduction, online. Same session each time; come to whichever suits. Register for intro session below: https://events.humanitix.com/reclaim-your-power-with-restoring-choice Four-week practice group, Tuesdays from 15 September, 6:30-8:00pm. One session a week, and at least one short written entry a day about a real situation in your own life. The writing is the actual work; the sessions support it. Sign up by Sunday 13 September. Register for practice group below: https://events.humanitix.com/restoring-choice-practice-group Everything is free. Times are Australian Eastern 6:30pm here is the early hours in most of the Americas. Worth checking before you register. Who it’s for No prior experience needed. It isn’t therapy, and I’m not a therapist. Many people find that looking honestly at how well they ask, decline, or hear a no is less flattering than expected. That’s common, and it isn’t a verdict on anyone. Run by Glenn Russo – 13 years practising this material, seven years co-facilitating an NVC practice group in Castlemaine. If you’re already living in community and would rather share what you’ve learned than join anything, I’d like to hear from you too.

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