HOA Detective | January 27, 2026: In 1973, the Community Associations Institute (CAI) was formed. Among the founders was a former IBM executive named Lincoln Cummings, who was an influential, forward-thinking figure in the early years of CAI. This article provides a timeline of evolutionary milestones after the 1973 founding of CAI:
CAI Founder Lincoln Cumming Departure, c. 1977–1979: As one of the founders and an early president of CAI, Cummings parted ways with the organization only a few years after its founding. According to political scientist Evan McKenzie in Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government (1994), Cummings became disillusioned with the organization’s early trajectory, which he characterized as having been overtaken by industry professionals – particularly bankers, insurance executives, and attorneys – rather than remaining centered on homeowner governance and public-interest reform.
McKenzie cites this early rupture as emblematic of CAI’s rapid evolution from a reform-oriented educational body into a trade organization dominated by industry vendors and professional interests. In a 1992 statement attributed to Cummings, he acknowledges that while “this is the easiest way to continue, it disturbs me.” (Privatopia pg. 106)
After more than five decades as the dominant trade organization in the community association industry, CAI has consistently failed to advance several foundational reforms that are widely understood – outside of industry marketing circles – to be prerequisites for sustainable common‑interest development governance.
Missing Foundational Guardrails: The following industry guardrails remain conspicuously absent from CAI’s legislative priorities and policy advocacy, 53 years after CAI opened its doors and proclaimed itself the Policy Oracle of the common interest movement in the United States.
1. Mandatory Licensing of Community Association Managers: CAI has never meaningfully advocated for a uniform, state‑level licensing regime for community association managers comparable to those governing real estate brokers, CPAs, or other fiduciary professions. Instead, CAI has promoted voluntary credentialing systems that lack enforcement authority, disciplinary power, or minimum educational rigor.
2. Standardized Academic Pathways for Community Management: Despite fifty years of institutional influence, CAI has not partnered with accredited universities to establish a standardized four‑year academic degree in community association management. The profession continues to rely on ad‑hoc training, internal firm practices, and short‑form certification programs.
3. Regulation and Licensing of Reserve Study Providers: Reserve studies determine the long‑term financial viability of HOAs, yet CAI has tolerated a marketplace in which reserve preparers operate without licensing, actuarial standards, or regulatory oversight. The absence of enforceable standards has enabled systemic underfunding masked by optimistic projections. Five and a half years after the collapse of the Champlain Tower South Condominium in Florida, the reserve planning and building inspection standards throughout the industry ecosystem are shamefully lacking.
4. Enforcement of Long‑Term Funding Adequacy Standards: CAI has resisted statutory funding requirements that would compel associations to fully fund long‑term capital obligations. Instead, it has supported flexibility frameworks that prioritize short‑term assessment stability over long‑term solvency. As a result, recapitalization obligations are typically shifted to future owners through mechanisms such as the so-called “Cash Flow” method used by 90% of the reserve study providers in the U.S., and embraced coast-to-coast by the industry.
5. Intergenerational Financial Accountability: Nowhere in CAI’s policy framework is there a serious treatment of intergenerational equity – the principle that infrastructure costs should be borne by those who benefit from the asset during the service life, not deferred to future owners. The balance sheets of many homeowner associations are littered with made-up accounting entries that serve to “balance the books” from one reporting period to the next.
Taken together, these omissions help explain why deferred maintenance, emergency special assessments, rising debt, and declining affordability increasingly characterize the American HOA landscape. They also raise an uncomfortable question: whether CAI’s primary function has been to professionalize the industry service-providers, or to shield them from accountability.
If this situation disturbed Lincoln Cummings in 1979, buyers and HOA stakeholders in 2026 should be nothing less than outraged.
SIDEBAR – CAI Evolutionary Timeline 1973 – 2026: Below is a timeline of the CAI’s first half-century, and major milestones achieved by the organization:
1973 – CAI Founded: The Community Associations Institute emerged from the 1973 NAHB annual meeting. The official CAI “birthdate” is recorded for posterity as September 20, 1973. For an in-depth examination of the founding of CAI, see the HOA Detective™, January 20, 2026 https://hoadetective.com/the-people-behind-cai-the-1973-founders-that-shaped-hoa-governance/
1980s –Rapid HOA Expansion: HOAs proliferate nationwide as municipalities increasingly rely on private governance to maintain infrastructure. CAI promotes best‑practice guidance, but no binding standards.
1990s – Vendor‑Driven Professionalization: CAI expands conferences, trade shows, and credential programs. Reserve studies emerged as a planning tool when the so-called National Reserve Study Standards were published by CAI in 1998, but without regulation, actuarial grounding, or education requirements being imposed on professional practitioners.
Early 2000s – ‘HOAs 2020 and Beyond’ Narrative: CAI promotes optimistic visions of mature, professionally governed associations while avoiding calls for mandatory funding or manager licensing. In a 2016 trial balloon, CAI floats the idea ofa professional Board of Directors in a Panel Report called Community Next: 2020 and Beyond©.
2008–2012 – Financial Crisis Aftermath: HOAs face delinquency spikes and maintenance deferrals. CAI focuses on lender access and operational continuity rather than structural reform.
2015–2019 – Growing Infrastructure Stress: Aging common interest developments of all flavors begin to encounter major capital failures, a decade AFTER CIDAnalytics founders proclaimed 2020 as the Tipping Point for U.S. HOAs, due to the aging inventory of pre-1990 CIDs. Meanwhile, CAI continues voluntary credentialing emphasis and opposes broad licensing mandates.
2020 – ‘2020 & Beyond’ Revisited: CAI renews forward‑looking rhetoric while systemic underfunding becomes increasingly visible. As the industry was being encouraged by CAI to “Look Beyond” into the future, on the early morning of June 24, 2021, the Champlain Tower South Condominium in Surfside, Florida, collapsed under its own weight, killing 98 people.
2021–2023 – Surfside Aftershock: The Champlain Towers South collapse triggers limited statutory reforms, particularly in Florida, exposing decades of reserve underfunding. CAI engages legislatively, but resists national funding standards.
2024–2025 – Insurance and Debt Crisis: HOAs across multiple states face soaring insurance costs, deferred maintenance, and increased borrowing. CAI emphasizes legislative monitoring rather than institutional accountability.
2026 – Legislative Outlook Conversations: CAI convenes industry leaders to discuss the future of HOA governance, marking more than fifty years since its founding –amid widespread evidence that the prevailing HOA governance model is financially unstable.
In the January 23, 2026, article, the HOA Detective™ will explore the reckoning that lies ahead for CAI in 2026 and beyond.
Because You’re Buying More than a Home!
