Accident or Design

Have you ever wondered where, why and how this 'idea' of building communities complete with recreational facilities, and common areas began? Was it
 by accident or design?

Actually the concept began in the late 1800's in England when a man by the name of Ebenezer Howard read a novel titled Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. This book described the perfect utopian society, ( a visionary scheme or system for an ideally perfect social order) envisioning transforming a nation through rational planning. Brings the word socialism to mind doesn't it. Ebenezer Howard was obsessed with this idea, and in 1902 wrote his own book under the title of Garden Cities of Tomorrow. This book has been used for the financing, building, and operation of a new kind of planned community.

Once this idea took hold in America in the nineteenth-century, the developments were not cities but exclusive neighborhoods designed to be separate and shielded from their surroundings. To maintain the private parks, lakes and other amenities of the subdivisions, developers created provisions for common ownership of the land by all residents and a private tax (assessments) of the owners. To ensure that the land would not be put to other uses by later owners, developers attached "restrictive covenants" to the deeds.

This pioneered  what was to become one of the most significant trends in American urban history: the use by developers of common ownership plans and deed restrictions as private land planning devices.

To reduce risk while continuing to reap substantial profits, the industry shifted to construction of smaller developments. Beginning in the 1970's, financially strapped local governments also found common interest development housing appealing because it allowed communities to grow, pay property tax, and fees (assessments) to maintain the property that should have been the responsibility of the cities. By the year 2000, there was an expectation of 225,000 homeowner associations in the United States.

Bottom line recap: Developers can cram as many houses into a subdivision, sell houses promoting open spaces and amenities, while we pay in essence a double tax (property tax and assessments), and the city gets to keep their taxes without the responsibility for the upkeep of the land. Amazing what a little research on the origins of HOA's, explains.