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Press Release
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CAI Funded Publication Admits that Homeowner Associations are Private Governments
"Community Associations" - the trade groups' publication promoting more homeowner associations
April 01, 2002
By
George K. Staropoli
(View author info)
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United States, - The chapter begins with statements in regard to marketplace forces on the price of housing:
"Economists would interpret the growth in community associations over the past two decades as an indication that this new form of housing has succeeded. Critics should not ignore this market test as an indicator of consumer satisfaction"
Knowing that this is not the complete picture, the author continues, "For markets to work properly there must be competition" and that would determine the price of housing. Yet, he feels the need to address the question of "fair market practices",
"With a community association, they [home buyers] may not be willing or able to read a complicated copy of CC&Rs. As a result, developers must try to ensure that consumers know that they are purchasing a home and an organization. Real estate agents need to give accurate information about community associations. Home buyers need to shop around for alternative homes and learn what life in a community association will entail for them".
I would add that state legislatures must get involved to protect home buyers from the abuses that have been occurring, and continue to occur, by organizations quite familiar with current marketing practices. The legslators must act now and stop their "hands off, not my problem" attitude of the past and take rsponsibility for allowing these abuses to continue.
He then argues that planned communities allow builders to a make a profit while keeping the price of housing low. " Community associations are a way for a home buyer to have more influence over the ancillary components of housing [public services, neighbors, schools, roads, etc]."
See what we are really up against and who is espousing this view?
Pure economics and no discussion of the means and methods to attain and force home buyers into living in community associations, or concerns about democratic processes. ...And this book was written in 2000, not some 10 years ago!
Stabile goes on to say that the government is not the best means of supplying affordable housing and that businesses are better, because, "The advantages businesses have in carrying out plans is that they have a 'bottom line' of profits to inform them when a plan succeeds and when it fails". No mention of all those governmental acts that place restrictions on business abuse, going back to the "Trusts" at the turn of the century and the Sherman Antitrust Act, the excesses of the tobacco companies, the drug company regulations and even the Fair Housing Act.
But the author catches himself once again and adds, "To be sure, the CC&Rs place limits on the political process, much as the US Constitution limits what the federal government can do".
I have been arguing that CAI really knows that HOAs are independent city-states, and this statement putting HOAs on the same level as the federal government clearly indicates this arrogance. They forgot Teddy Roosevelt's statements, referring to the Trusts, that we created these private companies and we have the right and obligation to regulate them.
Getting caught in arguments of government and efficiency that he started with the above quotes, the author attempts to defend communisty associations on political and not economic grounds. "They [community assocaitions] provide their residents with services usually considered public goods, such as roads, police, garbage collection and general maintenance. The advantages of private associations are their efficient decision making and the responsiveness of the 'government' to local concerns".
Having been involved in homeowner rights advocacy for several years, I wonder where and in what country Mr. Stabile found his assertions to be anywhere near valid. Apparently, he had not seen any evidence to the contrary from the political scientists' research and court cases.
Finally, the author attempts to deal with political and governance issues within community assocaitions when he raises the question of setting fair rules and regulations. Who does he use to shed light on the issues? Jefferson? Madison? John Locke? Rousseau? No, he chooses R. H. Coase, a Noble winning economist who favored Bentham's utility analysis of economic behavior. The author uses, "the greatest good for the greatest number" . We are aware of this argument that gets translated into "the rule of the majority".
He continues to wrestle with this problem of rule setting that is faced by any organized society, but can only state, "CAs are a private form of government that regulates through CC&Rs and association bylaws. By joining a CA, members have implicitly agreed to a private contract to eliminate the social costs of neighborhood effects [setting fair rules and regulations] in a prescribed way" .
Notice the phrase, "implicitly agreed to a private contract" . Webster defiines implicitly as, "without questioning". The truth of the matter is, "without appropriate knowledge and information as to the consquences of purchasing an HOA-controlled property".
Yes, there is much that the public, the media, and the legislatures are unaware of and are not being being told in this CAI funded publication.
The book is informative, but biased toward the purchase and acceptance of HOAs.
___________________________
Citizens Against Private Government HOAs
"In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury" ... Declaration of Independence
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