Energy costs have been flirting with all-time highs and many homeowners are looking for ways to cut costs. With environmentalism en vogue, many homeowners are finding economic solutions within the green building movement. However, restrictive covenants established by homeowners’ associations (HOA) have made it extremely difficult for many Americans to make their homes more energy efficient.
For example, consider the case of John Wood, a homeowner in Minnesota who was recently featured in the New York Times’ Green Inc. Blog. He wanted to install solar panels on his roof but his HOA said ‘nope’:
“I felt extremely disappointed… It made me think that homeowners associations are in place to do only one thing, and that is to maintain the status quo, and they have no interest in any sort of change whatsoever.”
Change is precisely what many residents are requesting these days, but most HOA’s outdated covenants and architectural standards restrict land usage for these energy efficient alterations. Mr. Wood’s HOA claimed that the solar panels did not preserve the aesthetic quality of the community, though the HOA appears open to the idea of smaller and less obtrusive modifications to the plan.
A large percentage of the American population live in communities that are under the governance of private association rules designed to protect community property values. In order to change these rules, homeowners usually must get a supermajority of owners, who are often absent, to participate in their inefficient neighborhood governments. Furthermore, the board members of these private governments are trained to be relentless in their enforcement of these often-outdated rules, making it difficult to adapt to the needs of contemporary homeowners.
“Green Building Red-Lighted by Homeowners’ Associations” (by Mark Pike) addresses the rise in private government communities and the resulting institutionalized impediments for homeowners who wish to make energy efficient changes to their property. These obstacles against green building advancements could potentially be remedied through combinations of the following: a liberalized interpretation of homeowners’ rights; an effective application of the Efficient Breach Theory; a revived sense of civic duty and democratic participation in CIDs; and local, state, and federal legislative action.
For complete analysis, download a PDF of the Note as featured in Volume 33, Issue 3 .
Photo courtesy of Flick user Mulad.
One Comment
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