Have you noticed how sometimes the best of intentions can have disastrous  consequences?  A perfect example is  trying to provide affordable housing to the masses, give local municipalities free tax dollars while double taxing the homeowners (who think they just bought something affordable) to pay for essential services.  T o achieve all that, we commingle private property and common property and the cherry on the top of this scheme is putting Larry, Curly and Moe in charge.  If that is not a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.  We have tried to make this work for decades  but have failed miserably.  The real tragedy is that we not only refuse to learn from our mistakes but we keep building on them without improving them. 

Tyler Berding joins us On The Commons. Tyler is a founding partner of Berding and Weil, a California law firm that represents Condominiums and Homeowner Associations.  He has  been following all things related to Common Interest developments for the past several decades and speaks on the topic in various forums, including Community Associations Institute, (CAI) and the California based Executive Council of Homeowners, (ECHO).  He also participates in writing legislation designed to regulate both commercial and residential CIDs.  Tyler has long been writing about the failures of the business model, primarily of condominiums.  To prove his point, Pinnacle Condominium Association in San Rafael, California has just approved a $145,000 special assessment for each of the 36 owners in order to make the much needed repairs to the common elements. We talk about the obvious problems with the business model and the problems that can and do rear their ugly heads.  We also talk about our penchant for providing affordable housing to everyone.  The question really is, just how affordable is “affordable housing”?  Is housing built out of cardboard and scotch tape affordable in the long run?  Can well built housing that will still be standing in 20 years or longer, be affordable?  Or is to time to pull the plug on the “American Dream” of homeownership?