History

Sasona cooperative was founded in June of 2002 by a group of alumni from the student cooperatives in Austin. While the student cooperatives remain wonderful places to live, there are things that they cannot do, such as house non-students in a family friendly residential neighborhood, and provide a more adult oriented living experience in a smaller group size than is offered by many student cooperatives.

With the support and assistance of the campus cooperatives and the North American Students of Cooperation development consultants, and the Austin Non-profit management assistance center, the founding group was able to find a spacious 17 bedroom house in the Zilker Park area of South Austin and secure a loan to make a down payment on the property. After two years of operation, Sasona coop joined NASCO Properties, a confederation of cooperatives across North America. Joining NP allows Sasona to be more financially secure, and to pool knowledge and resources with other cooperatives. For more information on NASCO and NASCO Properties check out www.nasco.coop.

Membership Perks

Membership in Sasona coop carries lots of advantages! Members of the house enjoy great conveniences such as a stocked kitchen, cooked meals, paid utilities and internet access. Sasona is based on the principle that your living space support and complement your life, so that you can spend your efforts on what matters more to you. There are public internet terminals, household tools, kitchen tools, and public furniture, along with a TV room, free laundry facilities, public paid phones, and on site storage. The goal of the services at Sasona are that members have only one bill they have to pay each month, and that all of the various living expenses will be taken care of!

Membership at Sasona also has the advantage of being in control of your living environment. As a member you are given the right to help decide current and future house policy, review rent rates, or any other decisions that need to be brought up. House meetings are held each Sunday after dinner, where the agenda consists of anything that has been posted by a member, so anyone can bring up anything about the house they like for discussion, so long as they are respectful of their fellow members. The issues that members post to the house agenda will be discussed according to the Robert's Rules of Order (as in “I motion that....” “I second that....”) as adapted for the more laid back environment of the house, and can be voted on if the members wish.

Philosophy

Membership at Sasona is completely open, and our main requirement is that prospective members attend two of the house meetings before signing a contract. This is set up so that a member can see the house and the way that the system works before deciding that they want membership in the coop. The first meeting they can ask the members of the house any questions they like, as well as answer any questions that they feel like answering about themselves, and at the second meeting they need only attend and state that they are still interested in the coop. Members are given a chance to raise concerns over prospective members if they are worried, but the only allowed reason to bring a members admission up for a vote, much less deny them membership, is firsthand knowledge that the applicant will be evicted from the house. At Sasona, we believe strongly that each person knows what is the best environment for them, and that all interested people in the community should be given a chance to try a cooperative environment.

Members get to participate directly in the running of the house by taking part in the house labor system, which provides the work that gets the dinner cooked each night, keeps the house clean, and makes sure that all of the bills are collected and paid. After accepting membership in the house, members will be asked to fill out a preference sheet for the times and types of labor that fit their needs, and will begin shortly to help all of us keep our costs of living as low as possible.