Opinion – Page 107 – HOA Constitutional Government

The HOA climate is based on fears and distrust giving rise to strict enforcement as necessary for compliance

In the real world of HOA governments, the climate of the community is based on a fear and a distrust of one’s neighbors. This fundamental basis for HOAs is supported by the following commonly expressed objectives of HOAs. We’ve been told, as well as having been set down in the declaration, that the purpose of the HOA is 1) to maintain property values first and foremost, which requires the enforcement of the governing documents, and 2) to provide for the general welfare of the members in terms of rules and regulations for an orderly community. It implies that the survival of the HOA depends on an authoritarian government to coerce compliance with the objectives of the HOA state.

The climate of the HOA is formed by the attitudes, beliefs and values of its members who distrust their neighbors because their neighbors will,

1. paint their house pink, or polka-dotted,

2. repair and maintain their vehicles on their front lawns in front of their $200,000 homes,

3. not properly maintain their homes and lots as determined by the HOA,

4. refuse to obey the rules and regulations, which requires the application of penalties, as severe as may be required, to obtain compliance with the rules and regulation, and

5. refuse to make timely payments of their assessments, for which there are no justifiable exceptions or excuses.

What is noticeably absent from the purposes of the HOA government are any references to the establishment of healthy, desirable, and vibrant communities based on the US Constitution with its protection of individual liberties. Also noticeably absent from the above are any statements to the effect that HOA members are not protected by the application of the 14^th Amendment, as they would be protected if the HOA were a public entity. However, statements to the contrary have been made giving the appearance and illusion that the HOA provides the same democratic protections as found in the public domain, simply because members can vote for the board of directors. This is decidedly false!

Considering the above, the climate of the HOA is one of hostility, distrust, coercion to comply, and the fear of a decline in property values that necessitates an undemocratic, authoritarian government for its survival. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. The subdivision real estate package can exist without the HOA form of governance that is based on the distrust of its members. But, the HOA cannot exist without the covenants running with the land as found in the declarations of covenants, conditions, and restrictions.

Proposed HOA Study Committee issues of substance

The following topics have been proposed as issues of substance for the National HOA Member Citizens League Study Committees,

Have homeowners given their consent to agree to the governing documents and to the waiver or surrender of their rights and freedoms as citizens?
Are fair elections procedures needed to protect the democratic right to vote for HOA directors and/or officers?
Are HOA members being denied due process protections as are provided public government?
Is the right for HOAs to foreclose on homeowners an effective and legitimate method to collect assessment debts?
Are HOAs being given special consideration by state legislatures by not subjecting the boards of directors to punishments and monetary penalties for violations of state laws and the governing documents?
Are HOAs state actors?
Are HOAs de facto but unrecognized political governments?
Should HOAs be made subject to municipality statutes rather than corporation statutes?
Should directors be required to take courses in government and nonprofit management?
Should HOA managers and management companies be licensed and subject to random audits?

For more information on the HOA Organizational Development fresh approach to HOA reforms, and the National HOA Member Citizens League pro-con study committees, see HOA Organizational Development.

A further explanation of HOA Organizational Development

I would like to spell out my plan as contained on my HOA Organizational Development web page. Here are some excerpts,

The state governments’ laissez-faire attitude toward HOA communities has allowed the HOA to become a closed, inbred society where “the state is everything.” It is not surprising, then, that several groups with personal agendas have emerged, creating a dysfunction climate and culture within the closed HOA society. These negative influences helped shape the character and quality of life in the community. Here are links to a few appropriate research studies . . . (see the website).

OD is a change process with the goal of transferring knowledge and skills to organizations to improve their capacity for solving problems and managing future change. It focuses on the behavior of the members of the organization and how their behavior contributes to its goals as well as the feelings of satisfaction and stress, and service quality.

The mission for HOA OD consultants is: 1) to return the climate and culture of the HOA to where its members are able to re-identify with the values, beliefs, principles, and purposes of healthy and desirable communities functioning within the larger society of the municipality and the state; and 2) to remove the very strong external influences of the special interest vendors and lobbyists that are the primary causes of this deviation from the general societal norms and values.

What expertise do property managers and lawyers, who claim expertise not in political science or constitutional law but in “association” law, possess to allow them to be “advisors” to create and maintain community governments that develop healthy and vibrant communities ?

Additionally, my website contains the format and structure for a national organization adapted from the Minnesota Citizens League and applied to HOAs.

HOA Organizational Development – a fresh approach to the ills of HOAs

Here’s a glimpse of my new web page at HOA Organizational Development

INTRODUCTION

Organizational Development (OD) is a fresh approach to resolving the persistent 49 year problems with the HOA legal model and scheme. It is not simply more legal solutions or more pontifications by lawyers or property managers attempting to correct the dysfunctional behavior within communities governed by HOA regimes. OD is a comprehensive behavior based approach concerned with the HOA climate, or HOA “personality,” which encompasses member’s attitudes and beliefs. It is also concerned with the HOA culture, its deeply seated norms, values and behaviors that members share. These assumptions, values and norms reflect members’ unconscious thoughts and interpretations of their organizations.

CONTENT

What is organizational development?

Why the need to develop HOA organizations?

What are the primary causes?

Member behavior in dysfunctional HOAs

The mission for HOA organizational consultants

Information on HOA regimes –

Constitutional Local Government

HOA Constitutional Government

Author Backgrounder

Why should taxpayers pay private entity HOA assessments? It ain’t fair!

Good golly Miss Molly, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? If state governments refuse to pay assessments on HOA property it owns by foreclosure, how is the HOA to survive? The “stakeholders”, which does not mean the owners but all those vendors who feed off the HOA income streams, are aghast! How are we gonna make a living? How are we gonna make a living? Good golly Miss Molly!

A Tennessee bill is proposing an exception to its laws to exempt the state from having to pay HOA assessments on properties that it took over by foreclosure. “But state lawmakers are considering a bill that hands those foreclosure charges to the rest of the homeowners’ association instead of the municipality. What it does is increase the cost to the homeowner.” (TN bill would pass foreclosure fees to neighborhoods).

Um, what happened to the battle cry in favor of HOA foreclosure, “It ain’t fair for others to pay for deadbeat homeowners?” Why should taxpayers not living in the private contractual HOA governed community, with its private amenities, pay for deadbeat HOAs? It ain’t fair!

As with any business enterprise, when times are good all defects are masked and hidden from daily concerns. Policies, procedures, rules and regulations, and the legal structure and purpose of the entity can escape serious concern. The world is good. HOWEVER, when things start falling apart, like the financial quagmire facing HOAs, the poorly formed and drafted organizations functioning under faulty premises and legal structure start falling apart. And this is what is happening to defective HOA legal concept.

I cannot count the number of times state legislators told homeowners that they had agreed to a contract and now that it is working against them they want the legislature change that contract. NO, was the position of the legislator. Well, the nature of the CC&Rs contract is defective as it imposes a financial liability on the members much like a partnership with its joint and severable liability on all the partners. Also, the member liability is much like buying stock in a small closely-held business with limited ability to raise additional funds except from the members themselves. It’s all part of the “deal.” Didn’t the national pro-HOA lobbying organization explain that to you?

Or, were you just told that the HOA was a great way to preserve property values?

And let’s not forget that state legislatures have granted the HOA “special dispensation” in terms of special laws for a special entity – no oversight and very little HOA accountability. They have played their part in creating the HOA financial quagmire. Instead of a city or two going bankrupt, the state has set the stage for hundreds of communities governed by HOAs to go bankrupt.

For the state to pay assessments would be like throwing good money after bad money.