Category Archives: discrimination

Kicking Kids Around

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guest blog by Dave Russell

How to ‘legally’ discriminate against children in HOAs…… It’s pretty simple, and it only takes one word!

A Fair Housing case was just settled in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Six families in the Greenbrier Village Homeowners Association won a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit. The feds say the HOA was violating the law when it banned children from playing in the grass.

The Greenbrier Village Homeowners’ Association and Gassen Company had to establish new nondiscrimination policies, pay a $10,000 fine to the federal government and $100,000 to six families for their illegal discrimination

How to legally discriminate? Just use one tricky word

Shortly after the Minnetonka settlement, HOA lawyers started sending notices to every HOA in the land warning about discriminatory rules and policies relating to children and families.

The legal advice was: “When drafting rules and policies, it is in the best interest of the community to use the word ‘All’ during the rule drafting process.” In other words, if you have a rule against ‘children’ riding bicycles in the common areas, you should replace the word ‘CHILDREN with the word(s) ‘ALL’ or ‘EVERYONE.’ Example: ALL residents are prohibited from riding bicycles in the common areas.”

The arrogance continues

Apparently, the Villas of Summerfield HOA, in Hilton Head Island South Carolina, took those HOA attorneys’ advice but added their own sneaky twist.

2Q==The sign says “No Rollerskating, No Skateboards, No Bicycle Riding, No Scooter Riding. Even though 99% of anyone doing those things are kids, the sign doesn’t specifically discriminate against children, at least according to the HOA lawyers. Still, is this keeping with the spirit of the Fair Housing Act?

This Hilton Head enclave may soon be another one that learns a very expensive lesson.

 

From Robert Racansky

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from Ward Lucas:

This poor guy has been battling what appears to be a brain-dead HOA bent on no other goal than destroying a homeowner who stood up to them and won. Here’s his latest letter to me:

 

from Robert Racansky:

What is revealing is the account ledger and how much
they spent on Hindman Sanchez (law firm). Buckingham (atty) told me in person that he was being paid by the insurance company.

Per the account ledger I received yesterday, the total amount of
attorney fees paid to Hindman Sanchez P.C. was $19,184.35.

Obviously I’m biased here, but crap like this a perfect example of the
underlying fundamental problems with H.O.A. corporations — the lies,
the unaccountability, the imbalance of power, the perverse incentives
and moral hazards, etc. The problem is that it’s not as “sexy” as a
story about American flags being banned or an H.O.A. board being dicks
to a dying 6 year old girl, so it’s hard to make our policy makers and
pundits understand what needs to be done. Instead, we get a law
saying “H.O.A.s must have a written collection policy”. However, for
those of us who go through this — as I have been for six years — it
is an INCREDIBLY frustrating experience for so many reasons. 6 years
is more than 10% of my life, and more than 20% of my adult life.

Something else occurred to me last night:

People can — and do — lose their homes over trivial amounts,
sometimes a few pennies, sometimes a few dollars, etc. Sometimes
those amounts are nothing more than arbitrary and artificial
accounting artifacts. But our legislators and courts treat those
amounts as “damage” done to the H.O.A. corporation, which must be
permitted to exercise incredibly draconian powers because….well, I’m
not sure why.

But if an H.O.A. corporation f***s up in the amount of, say, nearly
$7,000, nobody will ever be held accountable. The home owner is
expected to just grin and bear it, because our legislators and courts
don’t treat that as a “damage” that the home owner is entitled to
collect.

“Equality before the law” is a sick lie we’re told as children to make
us accept any injustice in our lives.

 

The Loss of Childhood Innocence

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Today, while driving to the Post Office in my old Denver neighborhood, I passed a little girl’s lemonade stand. She couldn’t have been more than eight years old but she was shouting at motorists like a professional carnival barker. Had I not been in traffic I would have pulled over and bought a cup. In fact, I may even go back tomorrow to see if she’s still there.

It brought back childhood memories of life at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, where our home was located immediately across the street from a ball field where Army soldiers played softball every weekend. Mom taught us how to make and sell something she called ‘duros.’ It might have been a totally made-up name. I never knew. But a duro was Kool-Aid in a Dixie cup, a Popsicle stick in the center, frozen hard in our big basement freezer. In the hot Texas sun the softball teams lined up to buy duros from my little brother and me.

The coincidence of seeing today’s news story linked below was remarkable. An Overton, Texas cop has put a little girl’s lemonade stand out of business because she didn’t have a permit.

I’m glad I grew up in a more innocent age when political correctness wasn’t used to beat up little kids.

(link to East Texas Popsicle scandal)

 

The Wisdom of Solomon

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Some cracks are appearing in the Iron HOA Curtain. Psychologist Dr. Gary Solomon is making incredible strides in educating the masses. This one is worth sharing with everyone you know:

Child abuse by proxy

 

 

 

Disabled and living in an HOA?

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guest blog by Dave Russell

Each day I’m alerted to scores of cases where folks living in HOAs are denied reasonable accommodations for their disabilities. Some of these HOA denials are blatant violations of the Fair Housing Act, while some are not. I’m going to compare two recent cases that have grabbed the attention of the media. While both sound like truly legitimate cases, one homeowner did it right, and the other homeowner technically did it wrong.

Build it and they will come. The HOA that is!

After Michael Broadnax suffered a stroke late last summer, his wife became the head of the household. Charlotte Broadnax retrofitted her house with a small ramp so her husband could come home for rehabilitation. Now, the homeowners association for the Woodlands of Copperstone is threatening to sue the homeowners over the ramp.

Sounds like a clear-cut-case of a fair housing violation? The answer here is NO. Fair Housing allows for a reasonable accommodation, but you must ask your housing provider first. Yes, under the Fair Housing Laws, HOAs are considered ‘housing providers.’

“A resident is not entitled to receive a reasonable accommodation unless he/she asks for one.” (Nolan v. Starlight Homeowner Association)

In this case the homeowner just put up the wheelchair ramp and didn’t inform the HOA first. Of course the HOA will claim they had no idea Mr. Broadnax had become disabled. For all the HOA knows, the ramp could have been placed there just for the hell of it. Well, that’s what they’ll probably claim.

(link to KPHO story on wheelchair controversy)

Doing it right

Shawn Seekings has a disabled son, and he needs a fence to accommodate his boys disability. Unlike Charlotte Broadnax, Mr. Seekings made a reasonable request to the HOA to accommodate his son’s disability. Shawn Seekings did everything right, he asked the HOA for a reasonable accommodation and even backed it up with a written request from a neurologist. Mr. Seekings was smart-enough not to put up the fence first and then ask his HOA for the reasonable accommodation.

The HOA in Mr. Seekings case will probably face a Fair Housing violation for denying the fence. Not only is this my professional opinion, it’s also the opinion of Florida attorney S. David Cooper. I can almost guarantee the Esprit HOA and their management company, Melrose Property Management, are going to get slapped with massive fines and settlement costs by HUD.

(link to story on fence battle over autistic child)

Knowledge is power! Especially when battling it out with your HOA over Fair Housing Laws. Make sure you fully understand your rights under the Fair Housing Act.

(your rights under federal housing law)