Where oh where can the HOA Handbook be? Oh where, oh where can it be? Nowhere to be found, that’s where!
It came to my attention a few days ago that an attempt was made to buy the Homes Association Handbook[1], the HOA bible as I’ve frequently called it. As I’ve been told, not even ULI (Urban Land Institute), the publisher in 1964, is selling it.[2] (It’s not on Amazon). Anybody know why?
Perhaps in the light of recent disclosures and constitutional issues the promoters of the HOA legal scheme and marketing plan contained in the Handbook it can be quite disturbing to today’s special interest promoters. I mean I’ve not found any analysis or commentary on the Handbook except for Prof. Even McKenzie’s Privatopia[3] and Donald Stabile’s CAI-ULI self congratulatory book, Community Associations [4].
If you read my Advisory blog, HOA Constitutional Government, you might have some idea why not. Or try reading Part I of The Foundations of Homeowners Associations and the New America; or Part 3 of Establishing the New America of independent HOA principalities. You don’t have to be an Einstein to quickly realize that state laws and the CC&Rs all flow from the Handbook.
But, our elected officials see know reason to be in the know, and the media just follows along $$$$, leaving the average homeowner at the bottom of the food chain with no reason not to accept HOAs.
References
[1] Homes Association Handbook, Technical Bulletin #54, , ULI, 1964.
[2] In 2006 with the help of the late Donie Vanitzian I was able to get a copy of the 400+ page, 8 ½ x 11 document at a cost of $180.
[3] Privatopia: Homeowners Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government, Evan McKenzie, Yale University Press (1994).
[4] Community Associations: The Emergence and Acceptance of a Quiet Innovation in Housing, Donald R. Stabile (Greenwood Press 2000).
HOA Constitutional Government 