Room open at Rhubarb House, Oct 1, E. St. Paul

Open Room, current paint

Rhubarb House is a covid-cautious, queer-centered intentional community located on a half acre in St. Paul (Dayton's Bluff neighborhood), with 1 room available for move-in starting October 1-15th. Total room costs include the room and maintenance, all utilities, ample shared staple groceries (if you don’t want to buy additional food, you wouldn’t need to!), and all basic household supplies. The room will not be furnished, and our common spaces and kitchen are largely furnished and stocked.

North bedroom, main floor: $860 total for one person - room costs include the room and maintenance, all utilities, ample shared staple groceries, and all basic household supplies.

-Available starting October 1
-Medium-sized bedroom (150.5 sq ft).
-Two closets (not counted in the square footage)
-North and east facing windows
-Opens to a hallway that connects to the kitchen, and is right next to the main floor bathroom

*Double occupancy rooms: for a second person, there is an additional $300/month cost. This covers the increase in utilities, shared food, and maintenance that an additional person brings. This room could work for 2 people.

Please reach out for an application, which also contains additional information about the house, residents, and setup.

We also know that there will be another room opening up sometime in spring 2027, so if the timing’s not right for fall, but you’d be interested in the spring opening, please ask us to put you on our email list!

Key things to know for this room:

-We are likely at a cap for free range pets at this time (but reach out with questions if this seems like a good fit otherwise!). The main floor (where this room is) has a cat and elderly dog already living in the space. You’ll be able to decide if they are allowed in your room by keeping your door shut or not. There are also cats on the second floor.

-We are still highly COVID cautious. We have high-risk folks in the house, and need to be on the same page with our new housemate about that. For us that means: masking when we are in public spaces like grocery stores, not eating inside at restaurants or bars, masking if you are at a public-facing job and/or sharing airspace with others at work, and regular testing and communication, including about guests and higher-risk activities such as sharing unmasked space inside with others. We also ask that housemates mask at home after high-risk activities (such as air travel, a large gathering, or possible exposure), and for guests to test as supply allows before coming over and mask in common spaces unless they have taken additional measures.

-This co-op is in the middle phase of emerging to established in terms of day-to-day norms and practices, and, still very much a project house - there are house repairs and updates to be completed, on a scale from short-term to years-down-the-line. We try to balance the things we want/need to get done for comfort, ease of use, and cuteness while working collaboratively and within our capacity. It’s also frequently under construction as it came with a lot of deferred maintenance and not many updates.

-Our cooperative occupancy agreements are not inherently time-bound, and are reviewed at the 1-year mark. If this is a fit, make a home here! We are working to shift property ownership from two married individuals to the cooperative, made up of the long-term members of the house. Our hope is to have low turnover and deep relationships.
The house has a shared art/creative space, garden space, a fire pit, two common hang-out areas, dining room, 3 season porch, small guest room, a washer and dryer in the basement, plenty of food storage, bike storage, a few sheds, some off-street parking (plus plentiful street parking), and a very large yard.

-Physical access: All of the house entries have stairs, and the doorframes are relatively narrow.
There is sometimes homemade bread, and with how the kitchen is sized/designed, it is a fairly glutenous space - we have one resident who is gluten-free but okay with the cross-contact that comes from a shared cooking space, but we don’t keep a strictly gluten-free kitchen.

-We collectively buy vegan/vegetarian staples (e. g. produce, flour, milk/eggs/cheese but not meat) and supplies like toilet paper, hand soap, and laundry detergent, which makes up about $150 of the monthly room cost. We also share chores, maintenance projects, and common space. Therefore, your monthly contribution includes: part of the mortgage, utilities & internet, the house maintenance & project fund, and most-to-all of your food (historically we have not kept a lot of pre-made food on hand, and that is purchased personally. Our goal is that: if someone doesn’t want to buy food outside of shared house food, then they are able to do that by cooking with shared basic staples).

Once we’ve gone through the interview process and have extended an offer, we will ask for a $300 deposit once you have signed an occupancy agreement in order to hold the room, which will count towards your first month's contribution. If you are moving in mid-month the overall cost would be prorated for that time.