Tag: ULI

CAI: your friend or your foe?

Author’s note:  I’d like to thank the ever-alert Deborah Goonan of IAC for this important tip.

Unbelievably, the CAI Washington chapter spills the beans  on CAI’s mission and objectives.  As a tax-exempt 501(c)6 business trade nonprofit the oxymoron statements below admit to working for business entities and at the same time, serving the consumers of these services, the HOAs.  “to advocate on behalf of community associations.” 

CAI is not permitted to have HOAs as members, so it recruits the boards of directors as individual volunteers creating conflict of interest conditions. I offer this statement by the chapter to set the tone for my criticism of the following article.[1] Note it skips over serving its members, the attorneys and managers who are vendors to HOAs.

“Our Vision: “To be recognized as the leading resource for Community Associations and Business Partners.

“Our Mission: “Optimize the operations of Community Associations and foster value for our Business Partners.

“What We Do: 1. Advocacy – establish and enhance/maintain relationships with legislators and government officials and to advocate on behalf of community associations; 2. Member Development – boost membership and participation through enhanced outreach; 3. Education – provide a World-Class Education Curriculum for Stakeholders; 4. Member Services – maximize value provided to our current members, including Business Partners (events, conferences, materials, etc.).

“Who We Serve: “Community Association Leaders, Business Partners, CAI National, Community Association Members, Developers/Builders, Financial Institutions, Government Agencies, Insurers, Legislators, Managers, Media, Realtors, Sister Associations.

* * * *

Quorum Magazine article Based on the above stated mission and purpose of CAI, the Washington chapter’s magazine recounts a superficial, misleading whitewash portrayal of the history of HOAs in America[2]; it serves as good CAI propaganda and portrays an unprofessional social media illusion that  all’s well in HOA-Land. It is all real estate development oriented sold as a desired and well accepted housing alternative by uninformed individuals.

The article is devoid of constitutional and democratic concerns and validity centering on the HOA as another form of local government —  a contractual, private government.  These issues affecting the rights and freedoms of HOA members can be found in detail in the listed texts and selected quotes. Note the title of the texts, which says a lot.

  • Prof. Dilger wrote in Neighborhood Politics (1992)[3],

“For example, most of those who advocate the formation of RCAs [HOAs] assume that RCAs  . . . incorporate all the rights and privileges embodied in the US Constitution, including . . . the rights of due process and equal protection under the law found in the Fourteenth Amendment.”

  • Prof. McKenzie wrote in his landmark Privatopia (1994)[4],

“T]he property rights of the developer, and later the board of directors, swallow up the rights of the people, and public government is left as a bystander. . . . [Consequently,] this often leads to people becoming angry at board meetings claiming that their ‘rights’ have been violated – rights that they wrongly believe they have in a [HOA]. 

“CIDS [HOAs] currently engage in many activities that would be prohibited  if they were viewed  by the courts as the equivalent of local governments.” 

  • Steven Seigel wrote in his WM & Mary journal (1998)[5],

“Because of the traditional view, RCAs [HOAs] rarely have been deemed state actors subject to the requirements of the Constitution. As private entities, RCAs regulate behavior in a way that is anathema to traditional constitutional strictures;”

  • CAI-ULI funded publication Community Associations (2005)[6].

“[HOAs are] a consumer product sold by profit-seeking firm, a legal device, a corporation reliant on both coercive powers and voluntary cooperation, a democracy, and a lifestyle.  With this plan, TB50 [The Holmes Association Handbook] set out the plan that would be taken in forming the CAI.”

  • Franzese and Seigel argued in their Rutgers journal article (2008)[7]

“The laissez-fare approach to CIC [common interest communities]  regulation is reflected in the statutory law, which affords exceedingly few rights and protections to homeowners association residents.”

It can be safely concluded that CAI is not your friend, and any HOA in bed with CAI is representing its interests and not yours.

Notes

[1] Washington Metropolitan Chapter, CAI (Oct.18, 2022).

[2] “Community Associations – A Historical Perspective,” Quorum Magazine, CAI (August 2016, reprinted Oct. 2022).  

[3]  Roger Jay Dilger, Neighborhood Politics: Residential Community Associations in American Governance, p. 160, New York Univ. Press (1992). Formerly WVU Prof. Political Science and Director of Political Affairs.

[4] Evan McKenzie, Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government,  Yale Univ. Press (1994).

[5] Steven Siegel, “The Constitution and Private Government: Toward the Recognition of Constitutional Rights in Private Residential Communities Fifty years After Marsh v. Alabama,” Wm & Mary Bill of Rights J., Vol. 6, Issue 2 (1998).

[6] Donald R. Stabile, Community Associations: The Emergence and Acceptance of a Quiet Innovation in Housing, p. 144 (2000). Funded by CAI and ULI.

[7] Paula A. Franzese and Steven Siegel, “The Twin Rivers Case: Of Homeowners Associations, Free Speech Rights And Privatized Mini-Governments,” 5 RUTGERS J.L. & PUB. POL’Y 630 (2008).

Will ULC pursue HOA Member Bill of Rights?

“Can private parties enter into contractual arrangements, using adhesion contracts and a constructive notice consent, that serve to regulate and control the people within a territory (an HOA), to circumvent the application of the Constitution?”[1]

In August I commented that I was working with 2 institutions on a Member Bill of Rights.[2]

“Currently, I am working with two leading institutions concerned with state laws and the constitutionality of the HOA legal  structure. Addressing the Bill of Rights issue is relevant to conducting necessary research and studies. A Homeowners Bill of Rights would be a major step toward the equal protection of the laws for members of HOAs.

“As a result of my proposed research by  independent, objective researchers,  the law will be clarified and all parties set straight as to their rights, and on the legitimacy and validity of independent private governments in America.”

The Uniform Law Commission  (ULC) will decide on the 29th whether or not to undertake a study of my proposal for  meaningful revision to its UCIOBORA (2008).  It’s composed of only attorneys appointed by state legislators and are pro bono.  I must call to your attention the long established presence of CAI at ULC and with respect to UCIOA.

I believe that ULC will move ahead and make the Constitution and state laws living documents reflecting the overwhelming evidence for the need to admit that HOAs are invalid ab initio — from the very start — agreements and are unconstitutional.  

Notes

[1] The “end of denial” of unconstitutional HOAs, August 5, 2020.

[1] HOA Bill of Rights redux, August 29, 2020. Updated, HOA bill of rights history updated Sept. 13, 2020

What the Lost HOA Constitution webinar will reveal

Veritas para Justitia  (Truth for Justice)

May 22, 2020 11:00 AM PDT

To receive an invitation please respond to gks256@NYU.edu with “webinar” as the subject and the email address that you will use to participate

The 1964 Homes Association Handbook is the HOA “bible.” Here’s an example of the objectives of the origins of HOA-Land:

The last paragraph of the Foreword by the then ULI (Urban Land Institute) President reads:

“It is our firm belief that the information and recommendations contained in the handbook will be of major value to land developers, planners, home builders, appraisers, mortgage lenders, realtors, attorneys, association officers, and public officials concerned with the planning, development, and operation of stable and attractive residential areas for the home owner and the community.”

Reads like a money-making venture with a social value attached. Like selling a business product for the backers. The Handbook has no references to questions of local government or constitutional validity. But over the course of years HOAs have been sold as protecting property values, the greatest form of democracy, and “care-free living” among other “community” connotations. All purchased under a real estate contract and not under a commercial business or stock contract. Is this misrepresentation?

More can be found in the webinar.

 

The intent of the HOA “bible”, the Homes Association Handbook

I have quite often made reference to the 424 page Homes Association Handbook of 1964 as the HOA “bible.” It provided the fundamental basis for the mass marketing of HOAs and as the legal basis for the common place boilerplate CC&Rs.  It has everything for everyone except the HOA lot owners, the mandatory members.

The following is an excerpt from its Foreword by the ULI president says it all.

It is our firm belief that the information and recommendations contained in the handbook will be of major value to land developers, planners, home builders, appraisers, mortgage lenders, realtors, attorneys, association officers, and public officials concerned with the planning, development, and operation of stable and attractive residential areas for the home owner and the community.

See the cover pages here.

As can be noted from the above, the CAI brief equates the HOA interests with the members’ interests and that it is acting in the best interests of the members subject to “the needs and obligations of the community.” Sort of confusing doubletalk me thinks. Once again I’m touching upon a defect in the HOA legal scheme. Under corporation law the BOD is responsible to the HOA association, but we have a PRIVATE contract agreed to by the members that the BOD functions on the best interest of the members.