A community that governs itself, one consensus meeting at a time.
We're an intentional cohousing community inside the Los Angeles Eco-Village, self-governed through consensus decision-making. Our nonprofit is led by a resident board of directors, advised by a management committee — with owner-members and renter-members sharing legal and social ownership of our buildings and grounds.
Members meet twice monthly to make decisions together — from budgets to who joins the co-op.
Owner-members and renter-members hold the buildings and grounds together, not as landlord and tenant.
Founded by members of the LA Eco-Village community, with support from CRSP, alongside the Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust.
Three organizations, one neighborhood
USTU doesn't stand alone — we're one leg of a three-way structure built specifically to keep this land and housing out of the speculative market for good.
CRSP, doing business as the Los Angeles Ecovillage Institute, is the resource center that established the LA Eco-Village neighborhood in 1993 — and helped found both BVCLT and USTU.
A nonprofit community land trust that holds the land under our buildings in trust, keeping it permanently out of the speculative real estate market.
That's us — the limited-equity housing cooperative that owns and self-governs the buildings sitting on BVCLT's land.
Our core values
Celebrate & include joy in all our endeavors.
Take responsibility for each other & the planet through local environmental & social action.
Learn from nature and live ecologically.
Build a dynamic community through diversity & cooperation, giving & forgiving.
Inspire compassionate, nurturing, & respectful relationships.
Create balanced opportunities for individual participation & collective stewardship.
Engage our neighbors and broader communities in mutual dialogue to learn, teach and act.
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