Community house with garden and colorful fence at Foundation for Intentional Community.

Loaves & Fishes Community

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 1989

What we do

Loaves and Fishes Community began in 1989 when Angie Miller and the late Steve O’Neil opened their family home to Central American refugees en route to Canada. Over the years we have grown into four houses within a few blocks of each other, two of which provide family-style hospitality to people experiencing homelessness, one which offers foster care to children, and a fourth which serves the needs of community and some long-term hospitality. We are rooted in the Catholic Worker movement, with strong influence from community organizing and the labor movement.; We engage in anti-racism and housing organizing; grow two city lots of gardens; help facilitate countywide anti-homelessness efforts; and run a no-cost bike shop which sends our 150-200 bicycles every year on a work trade system.

Our Mission

Like the message of the Bible story that gave us our name, Loaves & Fishes Community believes that sharing is contagious. We welcome people of all faiths and none to join us as we practice nonviolence and community, advocate for social change, and offer family-style hospitality to people experiencing homelessness.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Coliving
  • Activities
  • Experiences
  • Networking

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1989
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1989
  • Started living together
  • 10 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
38

How to join

Membership process begins with a questionnaire and email/phone communication or visit, if practical. Potential new members take part in an experiential period of three months, after which the community and potential new member decide if we are a mutual fit for one another. Short-term volunteers are welcome, but membership requires a minimum one-year commitment to the community.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

E-mail or call. Priority for beds is given to local people experiencing homelessness, so we cannot always accommodate visitors but will do our best!

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

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

Decisions are made by core community through consensus. Major decisions include a process of input and consultation with guests and extended members/supporters. House ownership and maintenance is managed by an independent board made up of members of the community and extended community supporters.

Economic model

  • Partial Income-Sharing

Members contribute a percentage of income to community funds.

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

Additional economic information

Regular fees: $50
Labor: Yes (30 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Members are strongly encouraged to take paid work outside the community for no more than 20 hours per week, and tithe 10% of income to the community.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Workshop, Outbuilding(s), Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • Approximately 1 meal per day

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Community activities and engagement

  • Volunteer, Internship, or Apprenticeship, or WWOOF’ing
  • Organization, Resource, or Network

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Religions
  • Christian
  • Buddhist
  • Quaker
  • Native
  • Unitarian Universalist

Gender composition

  • Majority cis (over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

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.

Community type

  • Coliving

    Shared living spaces with private bedrooms/bathrooms and communal
    kitchens, dining, and social areas.

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • 33 - 66%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • Over 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden

Guest Book

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

Location

  • Minnesota, United States

Needs and Offers

Offer
  • Communities with Openings
1 month ago

Rooms in Beautiful Location in downtown East Austin

Mountain Laurel House has upcoming room openings on August 1 and September 1 to share our house in central East Austin close to downtown. Rent is $925 per month with $75 to cover your share of the utilities and maintenance. You provide your own food. We enjoy sharing a meal at the dining table at least once a month for fun, to check in on our lives, and talk about housekeeping together. To apply, email do*************@***il.com with subject line Room at Mountain Laurel House. Request the brief application questions and we’ll provide more info and answer your questions. Mountain Laurel House is in a great location! It’s on a green cul de sac, with a wooded lot to the southwest and a green open space to the west. It’s close to the East 11th & Rosewood dining and entertainment district and right across from the Carver Library and a bus stop. We’re in walking distance to downtown Austin, the State Capitol, Huston-Tillotson University and a short bike or bus ride to the University of Texas; and, south or east of here, Lady Bird Lake and Boggy Creek hike and bike trails, park lands, swimming pools, pickleball and basketball courts. I kayak on Town Lake aka Lady Bird Lake or swim just across downtown at Deep Eddy or Barton Springs fresh-water, spring-fed swimming pools. We enjoy sharing a meal at the dining table at least once a month for fun, to check in on our lives, and plan housekeeping together. HEB is a short 5 minute drive east on 7th St. and Whole Foods is about a ten minute walk from here on 5th St. Amenities in the house include a dishwasher, utility room with a clothes washer-dryer and an optional clothesline, high-speed internet, a big dining room table for meals or activities, and a large screen TV for movie nights. The yard has beautiful native wildlife habitat gardens, veggie and herb pots, a large Cedar Elm, two Live Oaks, a fruit-bearing Fig, a Champenelle grape vine, and a Chili pequin. The cul de sac is a large park-like
  • Promoted
Offer
Offer
  • Marketplace
6 years ago

Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves Books for Sale

Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves, Charles Durrett and Kathryn McCamant introduce Cohousing with stories and pictures of both Danish and American communities. Beautiful photographs and line drawings illustrate the warmly written account of how these communities came to be. Specific information on legal and financial aspects of working with developers, group process, and design issues make this book informative as well as inspiring. This is the book which brought Cohousing to North America. This book is the much prized second edition which has become a rarer and somewhat of a collectors item. Its community case studies were not included in the more recent publication. It preceded Creating Cohousing which is widely available. I acquired 25 cases from a local distributor who closed down. If you would like three or more copies for yourself, to share with your friends or to market your group, please let me know. I would love for them to be made useful and find great homes. Books are paperback (hard copy was not an option at the time from the publisher) all brand new, in Oakland (CA) so could be picked in Oakland or mailed to you. I would very much like to recuperate what I paid which is $10 per book. So, If you would like three or more shipped, I will add the postage, packing and handling fees. I have sold several cases (18 books per case) for $150 per case ($8 per book). I have a little wiggle room on the pricing. Please let me know if you are interested. Use the Send Message button on this page.
Need
  • Communities with Openings
3 years ago

Twin Oaks, an established, income-sharing, village-scale community is seeking new members

Twin Oaks is looking for new members! Founded in 1967, Twin Oaks is an egalitarian, income-sharing community made currently 70 adults and 15 kids, living on 500 forested acres in central Virginia. Twin Oaks has strong social justice values including feminism, racial justice, and queer culture. We host a Queer Gathering and Women’s Gathering each summer, and we have a number of working groups around racial justice issues in general and in an intentional community context. Please visit our website twinoaks.org for more information and directions on how to apply for a Visitor Period. A Visitor Period is the first step towards becoming a member. We can offer: your choice of full-time work in our income-sharing community businesses (heirloom seeds, hammocks, and others) and/or domestic work areas from organic gardening to milking cows and cheese-making to office work to technical jobs and more! an individual room in shared housing; each member has their own personal bedroom and shares a kitchen, living room and bathroom with others in their house. Each residence has its own culture and range of ages. all meals are provided in our communal dining hall and/or in smaller kitchens for individual eating. We generally accommodate all special diets. (gluten-free, vegan, no garlic, etc.) income-sharing includes health-care and monthly stipend for extra We are looking for: people with various life skills and/or a willingness to learn people who share our values of social justice, sustainability and living closely with a diversity of people people with a generally responsible and pro-active approach to community living experience or interest in non-hierarchical, shared decision-making BIPOC, women and non-binary people especially encouraged The first step towards becoming a member is to participate in one of

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