Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Growth of Community Associations

[David Mandel (dlmandel]

I would dispute the assertion that community associations per se lead to an
"extension of homeownership opportunities." (Aside from the discussion of
to what extent that is a good thing.) It depends on a community's goals,
which are not always altruistic and concerned with promoting inclusion,
democracy, etc. Cohousers, who in general tend to share relatively
progressive values, can lose sight of the many times when associations'
motives include finding ways to establish a private government that
circumvents some of the basic rules of democracy. CAI indeed offers a lot
of good nuts and bolts tips, but for a political counterpoint, see
https://www.calhomelaw.org/. Perhaps there are parallel groups in some
other states.
David

On Sat, Mar 7, 2015 at 6:02 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
wrote:

>
> Months and months ago, someone asked me for my source for a statistic on
> the growth of communities governed by associations. It is from the 2013
> Community Association Fact Book.
>
> "It's been said that the growth of community associations (condominiums,
> planned communities and cooperatives) offers the greatest single extension
> of homeownership opportunities since the housing reforms of the New Deal
> and the provision of GI Bill benefits just after World War II. The
> Community Associations Institute estimates that in 1970 there were 10,000
> community associations nationwide. In 2013, there are 328,500 associations
> housing more than 65 million Americans. From its inception, CAI has grown
> along with association housing, along with the homeowners and along with
> association professionals -- to foster better communities based on
> fostering harmony, transparency and sustainability."
>
> The Fact Book quotes statistics from the 2013 National and State
> Statistical Review on their website.
>
>
> http://www.caionline.org/info/Documents/2013%20National%20and%20State%20Statistics.pdf
>
> CAI has an incredible number of resources.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
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