[updated November 2024]
Beyond our household, we’re part of a growing set of neighbors who are close friends. Do you think living near us would be fun? We live in a neighborhood with houses, apartments, and condos, so the opportunities are varied. Let us know and we’ll keep you in the loop about openings that come up within a short walk around us.
While we don’t have openings right now, we expect to have an opening in July 2025. We find it very helpful to get to know interested potential members before we have an opening. So please reach out if you’d like to get to know us and/or join our events list.
In general
Maitri House tends to have one or more openings each year. We encourage those who might be interested in joining our community in the future to start getting to know us sooner rather than later.
Individuals, partners, and families are all welcome to explore joining our community. In keeping with the intergenerational value of our community, we would be especially interested in welcoming older members. Read on for information and instructions on how to inquire…
About the community:
More than a group house, Maitri House is an intentional community and cooperative household that is collectively owned. Our purpose is to be a supportive, connected, multigenerational, and family-friendly community that enjoys living together. We strive to live more sustainably and to act with concern for the well-being of people and the planet. We currently have 11 people. We have no pets or companion animals at this time.
We have shared dinners several nights a week and spend time together often. Interests held by more than one person in the house include gardening and fruit trees, emotional intimacy, contra dancing, society and social change, communication and relationships, animals and ecology, philosophy, puzzles and strategic games, science, activism, and systems of oppression.
The house is a four-story, brick building with 11 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a spacious kitchen and dining room, living room, an office, and a large balcony for outdoor lounging. Our yard features garden plots and fruit trees for home-grown food, outdoors swings, a large bike and tool shed, and multiple clotheslines. Our house is located within walking distance of a food co-op, restaurants, a year-round farmers market, and the Takoma Metro station on the red line (0.9 mile away).
We developed a co-ownership model that makes it possible to buy-in or develop equity over time in the legal entity that owns the building. We use a values-based consensus approach to group decision-making. Read more about our shared purpose, values, and essential criteria for community here.
What we look for:
Below is a list of qualities we value in housemates, understanding that there’s room for differences in interpretation. If any of the points concern you or you’d like to know what we understand a certain point to mean, please let us know.
We’re looking for someone who (please consider each point):
– is interested in and will prioritize: creating strong relationships, especially with long-term members; being in compassionate, authentic, and warm relationships with one another; and actively investing time and effort towards those priorities;
– is interested in sharing meals and spending quality time together regularly, and enjoys simply hanging out with housemates;
– strongly considers the social and environmental impact of their choices;
– wants our group choices to consider social and environmental impact;
– actively seeks to learn more about communication, relationships, and systems of oppression, including how each plays out intrapersonally, interpersonally, culturally, and systemically;
– can prioritize house meetings (at least 3 per month) and engage cooperatively in consensus decision-making;
– can reliably do roughly 5 hours a week of community chore service (e.g. cooking, cleaning, emptying the dishwasher) beyond cleaning up after themselves;
– keeps community spaces pleasant, clean, safe, and inviting places to live;
– doesn’t use illegal drugs or drink heavily or frequently (people who smoke are asked to do so off the grounds);
– is willing to learn and share methods for improving relationships, resolving conflict, and building community (e.g. communication, mediation, cooperative dialogue, restorative/transformative practices);
– can live without harmful synthetic chemicals and fragrances (this means avoiding products with the ingredient “fragrance”);
– is interested in connecting and living with a person with profound intellectual differences; and
– enjoys kids and wants to be part of their lives.
Basically, we’re looking for not just a housemate, but someone who is interested in being friends and a community member, someone who aims to build close, warm relationships with fellow community members and contribute in some way to the world at large.
We welcome prospective community members of any ability, age, background, ethnicity, gender identity/expression, race, or sexual orientation to explore joining our community. Disability is a very diverse identity group, and our community may work well for people with some disabilities and not well for others. For two examples, we have one community member with profound developmental differences, and at the same time, sadly, our home is not wheelchair-accessible. You are welcome to ask about the demographics of our house, which change from time to time.
About the rooms:
We don’t know which room will be available next. Owner occupancy costs tend to range from about $700-1000/month.
Additional costs:
All utilities, including high-speed internet, are included in the room cost. There is also a community fund ($160/mo for adults and $80/mo for children) that covers an abundance of vegan food, laundry supplies, and cleaning supplies. It is entirely possible to eat well without spending additional money on food. (Most of us do also keep some personal food, which does not have to be vegan.)
There is an additional room cost of $135 per month per additional occupant older than 2 years old.
Lastly, we ask for an initial equity investment into the co-ownership structure equivalent to one month’s room fee, somewhat analogous to a security deposit.
If you’re interested in exploring joining us:
We encourage those who might be interested in joining our community now or in the future to start getting to know us sooner rather than later.
In our experience, the process to be accepted as a community member usually takes at least a month, often longer. If that doesn’t work with your timeframe, you probably want to prioritize other housing options.
Please read this whole ad and the Home and Purpose pages on our website at maitrihouse.org. Then email Ryan at maitriinfo [at] eml.cc with this information:
1) a few sentences about yourself,
2) what draws you to want to explore living with us,
3) when you’re looking to join and how long you’re interested in, and
4) what are your thoughts about joining this community in particular during the pandemic?
Please feel free to ask any questions. We’ll share our document of intention, which lays out many of our shared agreements and practices around living together, communication and conflict guide, and other core documents about our community. We will then schedule in-person visits, or video meetings if the former is not possible. If it’s logistically possible, we prefer to arrange a visitor stay of a week or more to have a better sense of what it would be like to live together.