The Fort is a cooperative house in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

The residents

We are all in our 20's and 30's. Some of us enjoy things like cooking, gardening, books, music-playing, activism, organizing events, bike riding, urban treasure hunting, playing outside and so on. Also, three wonderful cats and one amazing dog live here too.

The cooperative

We all share household responsibilities of cooking, food shopping, and cleaning. Each person helps cook dinner (and clean up) with another roommate for the house one night per week. We buy vegan food for the house (although some people buy/cook non-vegan food for themselves). We have house meetings every other week where we check-in, communicate things in constructive ways, and make decisions by consensus. Sometimes we use the common spaces in the house for fun events.

The house

The house is large. We have a yard with a garden, large trees, and a hammock. In the basement we have a bike shop, a wood shop, laundry, and storage. We also have porches, two large common spaces, a sunroom, lots of books, fireplaces that work, and lots of windows. Our kitchen is pretty large, and we've got a few refrigerators and a couple ovens. There are about 4 full bathrooms, plus a small one in the basement. We have high-speed internet with wireless, and we don't have any televisions.

The location

We're nearest to the Stony Brook T stop on the Orange Line, which is about a 10 minute walk. Jamaica Pond is a hop skip and a jump away. Walking to JP Licks (great ice cream and coffee) or to The Milky Way (local music club) is a breeze. The Harvest Food Co-op is a pleasant 10 to 15 minute walk through the bustling Centre Street storefronts. It's great though, because even though we're so close to all this wonderful stuff, we're pretty tucked away on a small low-traffic road that hides us from loud buses and speedy cars.

The cost

Living here is pretty inexpensive. Our rooms vary in size, and thus range in monthly rent prices from the low 300's to the mid 600's. Plus, everyone in the house equally splits the monthly cost of food and utilities, which can vary from $100 to $140 per person (depending on the season). We have a house bank account that we use to pool our money and purchase food every week. When people move in, we request that they pay first and last month's rent.