Homeowner Associations

In American real-estate (and several other countries as well) many communities are governed by a homeowner association (or “HOA”). Homeowner associations are increasingly prevalent in suburban and high-density housing developments. They are generally established around the time the land is subdivided into plots for individual houses. The houses (and the plots they sit on) are all sold under the legal stipulation that the next owner has to remain part of the HOA, pay fees to the HOA, and abide by HOA regulations. The purchaser of the property is also bound under law that any subsequent buyers must agree to HOA governance, or the sale cannot take place - keeping the property looped into these anti-democratic quasi-governments for life.

What do the homeowner associations do with these powers? Some of them take the “fees” you give them, and maintain a nearby park or landscaping for other communal areas. Most HOA's, however, govern with an iron fist, and dictate you what you can and cannot do with your own home. Expect fines and letters of reprimand for harmless things like “trash can visible from street” or “unauthorized bush planted in lawn” or any other type of garden. Didn't water your lawn enough? Another fine. Wrenching on your car? That'll be another fine. And don't try to park a boat in your driveway either, or the HOA will have it towed away at your expense. Many HOA's leave powertripping Karens in charge of enforcement, who take great pleasure in being able to levy major fines on anyone who argues with them. Got a problem with any of this? Well go pound sand, because you signed a legally-binding contract agreeing to live with the HOA and its demands when you moved in.

Like many other plagues, this one came from California. Homeowner associations used to not be so common. However, after the passage of the Davis–Stirling Common Interest Development Act, Californian development firms rallied around the HOA model, which they then exported en-masse to the rest of the country. Thanks again, California.

Homeowner associations are best understood in connection with another aspect of the suburb, the despised cul-de-sac. Cul-de-sacs are intentionally designed to reduce the movements of people, and keep them isolated. During martial law, local police department can keep entire communities like this boxed in, with just one or two cop cars parked at the choke-points. Communities like this oftentimes have no social interchange with surrounding communities, ensuring stratification for generations to come.

The HOA is a similar trap to isolate the middle and lower class. You can see how it works, when you study its symptoms. For example: letting your homeless best friend crash in their car or RV in front of your house, could be enough to warrant a fine, or even a visit from the police. HOA regulations will block you from holding street-side activist events out of your front lawn, or setting up a food cart. Even the communal “park areas” may be strategically neutered, prohibiting bringing in street performers without permission and a permit.

The community shackled with the HOA is not allowed to be self-sufficient, nor is it allowed to develop its own organic communal identity. This is by design. The only people without these shackles, are those who own the “common” ground in the boundaries outside the HOA, and they are who you must spend money with for food, medical supplies, and entertainment. This keeps the residents of the HOA dumb and pacified as they suck on the teat of major media conglomerates, trying to fill the empty holes in their life that were engineered by the HOA in the first place.

“Voting” in an HOA is based on property ownership. In a community where absentee landlords (aka Wall Street investors) own all the houses, and all the residents are renters, that means reps of investment firms like Blackstone Inc. are who “voting power” is concentrated with in these totalitarian quasi-states.

The easiest way to avoid conflict with an HOA, is to not have to operate in a neighborhood with one in the first place. In America, this is easier said than done, as you will likely run into conflict with an HOA at one point or another. Even if you do not own a home, you will deal with HOA's at rentals, and even if you are couchsurfing with friends and family.

It is also hard to fight the HOA directly. People who ignore warning letters and fines can eventually be lawfully evicted and have their home seized and resold by the HOA! For anyone forced to do battle with an HOA, there are many tactical considerations to keep in mind.