Growth of Homeowner Associations

Question: How many Americans live in homeowner associations or condominium associations?
A. 2.1 million
B. 9.6 million
C. 29.6 million
D. 57 million

The correct answer is 57 million Americans (1 in 5 Americans) live in HOAs or COAs. If you answered 2.1 million you were correct in 1970. Since then the growth has exploded.

What is causing the HOA growth? What are the implications of HOAs for local government? There are a number of other related policy questions...who will retain the responsibility for maintenance or upkeep? Is there a perception of double taxation to HOA residents?

If you are interested in this issue please attend the ULCT forum: Homeowner Associations: the Good, the Bad, and the Unknown
Date: Thursday, March 29th
Time: 2:30 to 4:00 pm
Place: South Jordan City Hall, Council Chamber -- 1600 W. Town Center Drive (10600 South)

Panelists: John Janson (West Valley City Community & Economic Development and President Utah APA Chapter), Chip Dawson (South Jordan City Neighborhood Services Coordinator), and Neil Abercrombie (ULCT policy analyst)

Email me if you have questions.

Spanning the State

After spending much of the last two weeks out of the office, for work and pleasure, I've been trying to catch-up on all the local news I missed. I thought maybe I'd link to a couple of recent stories I've noticed across the state...

West Valley City welcomes back City Manager Wayne Pyle from deployment

Pleasant Grove City studies their exotic animal policy

As the Gibby and Mapleton World Turns

Park City Council weighs the options of open space versus affordable housing

Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs lobby for federal funds

And Frank Pignanelli agreeing with Ronald Reagan? Well maybe in theory...

National League of Cities Conference

Myself, a few other ULCT staff members, and around 70 Utah local elected officials and staff are currently in Washington, DC for the Annual National League of Cities Congressional Conference. This morning four different US Senators shared their thoughts regarding the role of local government; Senators Norm Coleman (R-Minn), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn), and Joe Biden (D-Del). To be honest this turned into a session of 'campaign speak', with a lot of flattery and little substance.

The more interesting NLC speaker was George Stephanopoulous, host of ABC Sunday morning news show This Week. George spoke for 50 minutes without even hardly taking a breath, mostly addressing the national political landscape related to the upcoming presidential race. One interesting scenario mentioned by George is possibly the emergence of third party candidate...he suggested that maybe New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might throw his hat in the ring as an independent candidate. Bloomberg, one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, has the advantage of financing his own campaign. And as Stephanopoulous suggested, if a crazy Ross Perot can get 19% of the vote in 1992 think what an articulate intelligent Michael Boomberg can do. Interesting possibility.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg for President? Stephanopoulos said he wouldn't be too surprised to see this occur.

Utah's Aging Population

Robert Spendlove, Pam Perlich, and I discussed the social and political implications of Utah's aging population with Lara Jones yesterday on KCPW. The discussion lasted about 25 minutes, you can listen the broadcast HERE.

Walkable Communities

A recent study by the University of Washington confirms what we all intuitively know...people living in walkable communities are more active. Dr. Eric Larson, executive director of Group Health's Center for Health Studies and a co-author of the study, said the research shows you "have a higher chance of walking for exercise - from 30 percent to 600 percent in some comparisons - when you live in a more walkable neighborhood." You can read the UW news article here.

We will be talking much more about this subject in a few weeks at our Midyear Conference in St. George (April 12-13th). We are especially looking forward to our Midyear feature speakers, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and also Mark Fenton, host of PBS series America's Walking. Contact Brian Hall in our office or visit our website for more information regarding the conference.