Condos and HOA housing has appealed to local governments because it is an easy source of funds without the hassle of having to do anything for that money. The idea being that owners would govern themselves, maintain the common elements and essentially become an island upon themselves. However, after several decades of trial, and mostly error, we are beginning to see the concept unravel and fail quite miserably, reminding us that there really is no such thing as a free lunch.
Joining us On The Commons this week is Professor Evan McKenzie. Evan is the author of Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government and his more recent book Beyond Privatopia: Rethinking Residential Private Government. He maintains an active blog at privatopia.blogspot.com/ as well as a web site at www.evanmckenzie.com. We’ll talk about some of the failures and find out what the City of Chicago is doing to address the many failed condominiums.
