Hosted and produced by Shu Bartholomew, On The Commons is a weekly radio show dedicated to discussing the many issues surrounding mandatory homeowner associations, the fastest growing form of residential housing in the nation.

Proponents of communal living would have us all believe that the concept is positively Utopian.  What could possibly be better than pooling all your resources in order to live the life of the rich and famous?  Association living, they argue, provides you with a nice unit in a highly controlled environment.  What they neglect to mention is that by pooling all your resources you risk losing your home.  What they also conveniently omit is that YOU are the one who will be “highly controlled”.  The results of this living arrangement sometimes make the headlines, but not always.  That’s when the proponents of this housing scam trot out with words like “alleged abuses” and “isolated incidents”.  But what is life like when you are living the life of an “isolated incident” and are putting up with “alleged abuses”?  And what happens when you try to make this absurd living arrangement work for you?
 
On The Commons with Shu this week are Thieu Nguyen and Dr. Thomas J. Ellis.  Thieu, a 25 year old disabled Vietnamese immigrant is living the American nightmare.  He and his family are facing losing their HOA controlled unit to foreclosure.  As Thieu says, in Vietnam you lose your home at gun point but in Texas all it takes is a pen and a piece of paper.  Tommy. on the other hand, lives in a high-rise, also in Texas, where laughable best describes some of the rules adopted by the board of directors but there is nothing funny about having to live there.  Tommy is also at risk of losing his home.  Please join us On The Commons this Saturday, February 23, 2008.  We’ll find out what these two Texans have done to incur the wrath of the HOA Gods.