Asklemmy

Well, we're talking about home ownership here. If you're renting then...

Yes, even as a mere renter myself I am extremely familiar with the workings of home ownership in my area and the legal rights and responsibilities of each. I just didn't feel it necessary to elaborate on how I know. It didn't seem relevant.

I am stating a fact, that in the US, HOAs started as way to enforce gentrification. There were actual racist deed agreements and binding covenants. This isn't an opinion or speculation.

Yes, I am aware many home owners organisations were begun in the US out of xenophobic backlash after slavery was partially abolished. However, the concept of groups of owner-occupiers and investors/developers governing their community is not a uniquely US thing, and likely existed in practise before the term "Home Owners Association" was coined. I could have been clearer that i was speaking more globally and generally, but this is why I used the non-US-specific term "local governing bodies" which could cover everything from favella gang leaders to democraticly dlrected government councils.

OK but that's not everyone's opinion. My neighbors and I get along fine without an HOA,

Yes, most owner occupiers where I live also luve without being under an HOA, but they are still also subject to the laws and regulations of their local councils, state governments, federal governments, strata bodies and everyone else in between. Renters like me, or owner occupiers too are able to seek legal recourse through those courts. Depending on the value in dispute, they are able to do it without lawyers. In other communities, such as small towns where the sheriff is the mayor and the local judge was elected with no legal experience... this would be a much bigger problem for the person with little cash.

I wouldn't even want to live again in a building where the majority vote on repairs was held by non-occupying investors. It leads to stupid amounts of decay.