Intentional TRANSITIONAL co-housing

Is there such a thing? What I mean is, are there places where people cohabitate , sharing expenses and experience, before they purchase property of thier own? If there are, has there been anything written about them, how they work and more importantly, how to set one up? And if not, would anyone be willing to help me design a working concept for one?

So, so far I've listened to 4 of the 6 podcasts Paul does with Diana Leafe Christian. And while I have heard many definitions of types of communities available, none seem to match what I hope to start. Though to be honest, it seems like such a no brainer, that I can only believe it's not that it doesn't exist, it's just I haven't found it yet.
Let me preface this with some background. I can't be the only one who desires to embrace a more self-reliant lifestyle, but finds many of the concepts to be to intimidating to attempt by themselves . Nor, can I be the only one who has met resistance from friends and family, who see nothing wrong with the current consumerism lifestyle. There has to be others who desire to aquire as much knowledge and experience as possible, while they work toward getting the funds to buy their own property. And, there should be plenty of people willing to give up alittle autonomy, in the beginning to acquire the support and resources to have a serious leg up, when the chance to buy their own land finally arrives.

What I'm proposing is co-habitating with other units ( be they individuals, couples or families ) who share their basic living expenses. At the same time they also, as a group research, learn and put into practice the skills that they need to become self sufficient. Ex. Permaculture design techniques. Building RMHs. Wild crafting , fermenting, canning and dehydrating. Maybe , aquaponics, and small animal care such as chickens , rabbits, and or ducks. ( though in my case, at my home, livestock of any kind isn't allowed. That's assuming they can find them) The yard itself could be designed by the original group, to not only provide most of the produce the household needs, but also provide each "graduating unit" with a plethora of starts, graftings and bucket transplants to fill their zone1 and 2, needs. What's more, since these are plants they've had hands on experience with, they'll be better able to properly guild them and maintain them, once they are planted. I can foresee a unit staying in the "base" house for up to 5 yrs, tops. 3 yrs, average, and maybe only 1 yr, if they've already acquired most of the skills.
The next step involves the individual purchase of land, community help in development, and fostering "units" who wish to take the next step in rural living and possibly larger animal husbandry.

I'll write more next time. Monday's are my usual night's off, but instead of catching up on my sleep, I'm pushing 28hrs awake, right now. Hopefully that's not reflected in what I've just wrote.

I think it's a worthwhile idea. A lot of people seem to want to purchase land or permanently join a community, but may not be ready to do it right now.

Be sure to get a copy of Christian's Creating a Life Together before you even begin to start a community.

Radine, Tyler and I have started discussing a project (feralculture) I co-founded which may not be exactly what you're envisioning, but might actually be mutually beneficial.

Basically, we're putting together a community that's more like a distributed network. Instead on one large property, we want to have a bunch of small properties that community members can migrate between as they so choose (or stay at one if that's their preference).

Where I think this fits into what you're trying to do is that existing community nodes could easily function as incubators for people who want to acquire more land. But rather than that shared effort being effectively lost in a disbanding after 3-5 years (or whatever timeframe), the people who want to expand into other landscapes would maintain membership in the original community, and add to its landbase. In a sense, it could be a way to have our cake and eat it too.

Andrew Scott wrote:
Basically, we're putting together a community that's more like a distributed network. Instead on one large property, we want to have a bunch of small properties that community members can migrate between as they so choose (or stay at one if that's their preference).

A few years ago on a rewilding messageboard, folks were talking about trying to set up a network like this across the North American continent, where people could offer land for nomadic folks to stay on. I lost track of that project, so I don't know if it ever got off the ground.

I'm still interested in the idea.

Since our project is off the ground in the sense that we have land that's paid for, and some momentum, the difficulties Radine mentioned often get mentioned as barriers to individuals getting started.

Even if feralculture isn't the right fit (because it's definitely not right for everyone), I'm still curious whether the model might help people get over that first big hurdle.

First, I want to thank you Tyler, for your suggestion. When I had originally listened to Paul and Diana 's podcasts, I didn't think her book would apply to what I'm intending. However, only 10% into it, I've already learned things, I never even considered.
Andrew, I'm not sure my house would fit into your set up. I'm visualizing a live-in learning center . Where people gain knowledge and experience ,while reducing living expenses, so that when they finally buy their land, they are way better prepared.
As for my acreage, while I don't mind allowing limited usage to a few people, the fact that I would be responsible if problems arose between them and my neighbor's, would make me very picky in who I'd allow. If what your proposing is more a pooling of everyone's property, and members co-own all the properties together, there's no way I'd feel comfortable with that. As I'm under a land contract , I don't think it would be allowed, even if I was ok with it. All that being said, if I'm misunderstanding what you have in mind, I'm willing to hear more.