I’m linking to the CAI site only for the purpose of backing up a previous blog.
If you are living in a Homeowners Association which experiences a weather or earthquake disaster, don’t count on getting federal help of any kind. An HOA member hit by a flood is not considered a homeowner, but an investor in a corporation. When 20,000 homes were damaged in the Boulder flood two years ago, many homeowners discovered they were flat out of luck. Those inside HOAs found that FEMA wouldn’t help them and they couldn’t get federal loans. They couldn’t buy federal flood insurance either because they didn’t live inside recognized flood zones. Who knew Boulder Creek could ever launch that big a flood?
We learned recently that if HOA boards in California don’t buy earthquake insurance for the whole community, then individual homeowners can’t get coverage either.
CAI reports that a couple of Democratic Congress members have made some progress in getting the feds to help Homeowners Associations badly hit by Hurricane Sandy.
CAI’s press release is about as dishonest and disingenuous as they come. What they should really be talking about is not about federal exemptions, but about the fact that the very membership of an HOA in CAI is a red flag to the feds. You HOA members are investors, NOT HOMEOWNERS!!!
Here’s part of the proposed amendment:
“(a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall provide technical assistance to a common interest community that provides essential services of a governmental nature on actions that a common interest community may take in order to be eligible to receive reimbursement from a grantee that receives funds from the Agency for certain activities performed after an event that results in a disaster declaration.”
So if HOAs provide services of a governmental nature, does that make them state actors? Therefore, in all cases, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution must apply in interactions involving homeonwers/residents and their HOAs!
Or is the willingness to be comparable to a governing body based solely on a grab for FEMA money?