A Sad Comment on Humanity

You can probably guess from the title what this post is about. That's right... Home Owners Associations.

I know this topic may not resonate with all imaginary readers, especially those in rural areas where the specter of these repulsive Associations is less pronounced. But this blog is for me to spew my opinions, and I happen to have one about the human shortcomings that lead to the existence of HOA's.

I find it odd that the human species evolved to thrive using social strategies, such as community agriculture, healthcare and education, yet individuals cannot live near one another without paying a full-time board of referees to resolve their disputes. And I use the term "dispute" lightly because, in this case, it includes grave matters like agreeing on what types of plants each neighbor can have in their yards, what color they can paint their front doors, and whether or not they can build a deck in their back yard. Thorny topics indeed.

There's an economic principle at the heart of the matter; the idea is that your home is more of an investment than it is a place to live, and you cannot risk the value of said investment without having some reassuring authority regulate the appearance of the neighborhood. Clearly, if Clarence down the street does not cut his grass on a regular basis, his unkempt yard could negatively affect the curb appeal of every nearby home. Possibly true, definitely absurd.

I did a quick search and learned (see for yourself: HOA statistics) that about a quarter of all Americans (including me) now live under the iron fist of an HOA. Sadly, we collectively pay nearly $100 billion per year in dues for this oversight. The average family among us pays between $200 and $300/month for the privilege of an Association that writes down how all disputes should get resolved and then steps in when anyone questions the rules.

Now, I'm no math major but I know this. The UN estimates that we could end world hunger with $116 billion (makes me wonder why we haven't done that yet, but I'll save the topic for a blog on another day). According to my calculations, we could take HOA fees for less than 14 months and completely cover the world hunger bill. Sure, if we stopped funding the HOA's, someone in your neighborhood might paint their front door a "property-value-reducing" shade of purple, but that seems like a reasonable trade-off for ending world hunger.

The unequal distribution of wealth in the world is a major problem, probably humanity's biggest current challenge. However, as I suggested in my post about relative wealth, we don't really seem very focused on reversing it. In fact, we seem much more focused on accelerating the disparity. HOA's are a visible symbol of people with a fair degree of wealth, going to great lengths, to ensure that no other person negatively affects their ongoing accumulation of even greater wealth.

The whole concept is a sad comment on humanity.