This Florida lawmaker wants to abolish homeowners associations

A state lawmaker wants to get rid of homeowners associations in Florida.

HOAs maintain and manage neighborhoods. But Republican Rep. Juan Carlos Porras of Miami says Floridians have had enough of them.

“They want to just live in the free State of Florida without authoritarian boards telling them what they can and can't do with their house,” Porras said.

He believes many HOAs in the state lack transparency and are mismanaged.

“I think people across the state are tired of what's been going on, and I think this is going to be a refreshing piece of legislation to talk about,” he said.

Several bills were filed last year in response to complaints about HOAs. His Homeowners Association Bill of Rights, passed two years ago, aimed to improve transparency, accountability and fairness in Florida HOAs.

Now, Porras said it’s “very likely” he’s going to file legislation next year to abolish them. Florida’s legislative session starts on Jan. 13.

If abolished, the services provided by HOAs would have to be picked up by someplace else — or lost entirely.

Porras says there are alternatives that could be even cheaper for homeowners, such as local governments stepping in or residents using private clubs, like for pools.

Dawn Bauman, CEO of the Community Associations Institute, isn’t nearly as optimistic.

Bauman says getting rid of HOAs would be legally complex. She warns about higher property taxes, too. At the same time, some state leaders are trying to do away with property taxes.

“Instead of the association being responsible for delivering some of those municipal-like services, maintenance of the streets, maintenance of the sidewalks, recreation facilities, and a big one, trash removal, beautification, all of that would fall on the responsibility of the locality,” Bauman said.

Bauman said there were association “bad apples” but pointed to data collected by the research arm of her group: “In Florida, the stats are actually higher than the national average of homeowner satisfaction,” she said.

Bauman said Florida law — strengthened by Porras — already requires transparent processes and elections, giving homeowners the ability to raise issues.

But Porras said the law isn’t being adequately followed, and there aren’t strong enough enforcement tools.

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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.