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.
 
It is a well known fact that well funded special interest groups are able to buy laws favoring them.  After all, most of the politicians serving on committees and sitting at the table when it comes to casting their votes for any new bill have been bought and sold many times over.  Many of these legislators are little more than puppets – many but certainly not all.  In the case of housing associations, be they HOAs, Condos or Coops, we have precious few legislators who are willing to do what is right, not what will benefit them financially. But how does one good egg manage to hold his or her own in a basket full of rotten ones?  Can good laws be passed in this situation or should we all crawl in  a hole, waiting for the rapidly approaching end?
 
On The Commons this week we are joined by Representative Julio Robaina.  Florida’s own Rep. Robaina has long made it a mission of his to do everything he can to protect his constituents.  And at no time ever have those constituents needed more protection than they do right now.  The many run of the mill problems in associations have been compounded by the economic downturn, the huge number of foreclosures especially in Florida and the large number of associations trying to make ends meet with half the revenue from fees.  His proposed bill to make the banks pay some of the delinquent assessments was soundly defeated by his fellow legislators.  Not surprisingly the banking industry lobbied strongly against it.  But where was CAI in all this?  This bill would have helped ASSOCIATIONS and by default the homeowners.  It seems this bill slipped right by them.   Please join us On The Commons.  We’ll talk about what happened in Florida this year and we’ll learn how, with just a little effort of the part of the owners this MIGHT have had a happier ending.

The annual tug of war in state capitols around the country is coming to an end.  Legislators have proposed and considered bills that would drastically affect their constituents right where they live, in their homes.  Some of these new bills were drafted in response to problems reported by homeowners who live in HOAs but most of the HOA legislation is written and lobbied for by the vendors of goods and services, almost always increasing the powers of associations to the detriment of the homeowners.  This year has seen huge numbers of bills in several states.  Who wrote these bills?  Are any of them good for the owners?  And did any good legislation pass through all the committees, houses, hearings, senates and survive the Governor’s office?
 
On The Commons this week we are joined by Bill Davis. Bill is an attorney and a homeowner in Texas who learned about HOAs, and all the problems associated with them, not in law school but by being thrown in the deep end.  And like many of the controlled homeowners across the country, associations have occupied a good deal of his time since then.  Please join us On The Commons.  There were in excess of 100 bills that would have affected home and condo owners in Texas.  We’ll talk about a few of these bills and what they would do if passed.  We’ll also talk about some bills that you will need to look out for regardless of what part of the country you live in.

Many in America attempt to fight against one issue or another as they try to understand what is happening to their country.  But most fail to see the whole picture and are being crushed under a well organized “divide and conquer” tactic that keeps them reeling from crisis to crisis.  America is drowning in a sea of rules and regulations. We all know something is very wrong and we are trying to fix it.  These are all quotes from our guest today. While he was not talking about HOAs, he could have been.   On The Commons this week we are joined by Tom DeWeese. Tom is the founder and president of the VA based American Policy Center. www.americanpolicy.org He is the editor in chief of the DeWeese Report, a writer, publisher, businessman, grassroots activist, a regular on radio and television shows, a national and international speaker on the preservation of private property rights and  against intrusive environmental regulations.  He is a firm believer is protecting constitutionally guaranteed rights of property and individual freedoms.  Please join us On The Commons  We’ll talk about the rights and freedoms Americans are losing on a daily basis and we’ll find out how these rights and freedoms translate to HOAs.