Welcome to Sofia Cooperative! Sofia Co-op is a beautiful house located on the near-East side, within walking distance of Willy St. Co-Op, several parks, Lake Monona, and many great restaurants and community resources. Our house features hardwood floors, three porches, a backyard with garden boxes, and ample attic storage.
We strive to create a clean, cozy, and warm atmosphere. We are looking for diverse people who are passionate about building intentional community and willing to contribute labor to keep the house running smoothly. We recently made major updates to the cooperative’s policies, culture, and physical structure, and are truly excited to find members who will continue to set the tone for our cooperative moving forward.
We welcome members of all ages, genders, and backgrounds. Some interests among our current members include gardening, cooking and baking, board games, playing music, arts and crafts, dancing and theatre, social justice, and mental health.
We have been building community in the house by doing things like movie nights, house outings, board game nights, Sunday Brunch Day, and holiday potlucks. We also strive to collaborate with other houses when we can. We do not currently have a shared meal plan.
About the Co-Op
Bedrooms: Our house has 7 bedrooms; 2 on the ground floor and 5 on the second floor. We are considering renovations to expand the kitchen and move 2 of the rooms to the top floor.
Shared spaces: We have a dining room, front porch, back porch, balcony, unfinished basement, attic storage, and a small hang-out space on the third floor. Our attic currently offers plenty of storage, and our shed in the backyard is an option for bicycle storage. Our third floor space currently includes a ping pong table, board game collection, and electric keyboard.
Our yard: Our backyard includes a garden box, fire pit, and grill. We also have space on our balcony for gardening in buckets or pots (also great for some outdoor yoga!).
Transportation: We do not have a parking lot, but street parking is generally available within one or two blocks. We are near the bike path and many bus routes, including the 3/7, 38, and 4.
Member Expectations
Requirements include:
doing 1-3 chores per week to keep the house clean;
participating in house meetings 2x per month;
participating in a renovation/upkeep project every 1-2 months as a house;
maintaining clean and sanitary shared spaces;
We currently don’t have a shared meal plan, so there are no cooking obligations. However, we strive to share meals and spend time together when we can and may implement house meals in the future.
We have found that consistent participation from all house members in basic chores, meetings, and house projects is truly necessary for the wellbeing of the cooperative due to our relatively small size. Further, some members take on additional jobs such as Maintenance Coordinator, Accounts Receivable, and Membership Coordinator. These jobs are voluntary, based on people’s abilities and needs.
Family Friendly Housing Co-op
Sofia’s membership process is a 3-step process for the applicant:
Applicant fills out our membership questionnaire in Google Forms.
House looks up the prospective member on the Consolidated Court Automation Program (CCAP).
House votes to offer an interview / meet-and-greet.
If offering an interview, house provides the applicant with interview questions at least 24 hours ahead of time.
Applicant attends interview & meet-and-greet with structured questions.
This may be online.
House votes on a final meeting.
House provides prospective member with a copy of our policy book.
Prospective member joins us for a third meeting, including a tour of the house, and an opportunity to ask any further questions.
House votes on membershipping, aiming for a unanimous decision.
House offers a trial lease of 3 months.
At the 2 month mark, house votes on renewal of the lease and informs the member, who may accept or deny an offer of renewal.
When there are no rooms available, the house keeps a running list of people interested in membershipping with Sofia in the future. This list is in the Membership Coordinator’s Google Drive, and titled “Applicant Waitlist.” The membership coordinator is to contact people on the waitlist when a room becomes available.
When the house is seeking to fill a room on short-term notice, the house will process applications on a rolling basis. When the house is seeking to fill a room with 3 months’ notice or more, the house may choose to set a deadline for questionnaires, then vote on questionnaires and interviews in rounds in order to find the applicant with the best fit.
When the house denies an applicant, the house membership coordinator has a duty to log the denial in a tracking document for long-term record keeping. More than one person can membership at the same time. Upon successful completion both persons become Sofians with individual votes and individual house responsibilities. Upon paying their security deposit of $250.00 ($200 to MCC, $50 to Sofia), they may move in.
Contact Sofia’s Membership Coordinator
The whole membership decides collectively.
Generally seek agreement, but have backup methods when consensus isn’t reached.
Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.
Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.
Regular fees: $3000
Labor: Yes (4 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
various household chores and maintenance–expect roughly 5 hours per week.
Common House, Garden(s), Fire pit, Internet
A residential project: people live here as their primary home.
An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).
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