"We couldn't attend. Even if we could, we couldn't vote. Like 36 percent of the US population, we are renters. Across the United States, as homeownership declines and HOA governance expands, millions of renters live under private governments with no say in the rules that shape their daily lives. We pay HOA dues through our landlord and are subject to every decision—pool rules, landscaping codes, which management company collects our fees—but have no representation."
"What we were about to witness wasn't neighborhood gossip. It was democracy fracturing in real time: board members making executive decisions, invoking "community standards" and "character," while the two members who'd pushed for transparency, the board's secretary and treasurer (both women, one of whom is Black), were being accused of being the problem. This is what happens when governance becomes private enough to escape accountability but powerful enough to determine who belongs and who doesn't."
Renters comprise about 36 percent of the US population and often live under homeowners associations (HOAs) without voting rights. They pay HOA dues through landlords and are subject to rules, fines, and management decisions that shape daily life but lack representation. HOAs act as private governments, levying fees and enforcing community standards that can exclude residents, with power concentrated among property owners. Declining homeownership and expanding HOA governance increase the number of unrepresented residents. Transparency and accountability can be undermined when boards make executive decisions and target members who push for openness, producing unequal and sometimes biased enforcement.
Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]