HOA Detective | January 13, 2026: The United States housing crisis is no longer confined to questions of affordability alone. As Evelyn Quartz argues in her essay “The Housing Crisis Is a Democracy Crisis,” the erosion of stable and attainable housing undermines civic participation, community cohesion, and democratic engagement itself. Housing has historically served as a foundation for social stability and local self-governance, yet today it is increasingly treated as a financial asset rather than a public good.
https://www.levernews.com/the-housing-crisis-is-a-democracy-crisis/
This transformation has coincided with the rapid expansion of common interest communities – most notably homeowners associations (HOAs) – which now govern a substantial share of American housing. HOAs in the modern context have replaced the civic associations that were a foundational element of society in the time of the Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson. The convergence of financialized housing markets and HOA-dominated governance has intensified costs, reduced flexibility, and imposed new barriers to democratic participation at the neighborhood level.
Historical Foundations of Housing and Democracy: Quartz’s treatment of the U.S. housing crisis uses a long historical arc to provide context for the problem. Early American political thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson viewed land ownership as inseparable from civic independence.
(Get that? Land ownership was inseparable from civic independence in Jefferson’s world.
Stake in the Game: Stable housing allowed citizens to participate in local governance, build long-term social ties, and exercise political agency. As a bonus, EQUITY was the reward for long-term, stable property ownership. In other words, “a stake in the game.”
Throughout the twentieth century, federal housing policies reinforced this relationship. Programs such as the GI Bill and FHA-backed mortgages expanded homeownership, anchoring families within communities and fostering broad-based economic participation.
These policies, while imperfect and often exclusionary, created a framework in which housing functioned as both shelter and civic infrastructure. Neighborhoods were not merely collections of dwellings, but an essential element of the democratic ideals that ushered in the most prosperous economic period in human history (1945-1980).
Born is the Stakeholder: Homeownership enabled residents to invest in their physical surroundings and in one another, reinforcing social trust and political engagement. The present housing landscape departs sharply from this model. Median home prices have risen far faster than wages, placing ownership beyond the reach of many working households. First-time buyer participation has fallen to historic lows, while rents consume increasing shares of household income. Quartz emphasizes that the current affordability crisis has cascading social effects:
- Frequent moves that contribute to housing insecurity and community instability;
- Financial stress that erodes community ties and reduces participation in civic institutions.
- At the same time, housing has become a favored vehicle for private equity and speculative investment vehicles such as hedge funds.
Homes are increasingly treated as yield-generating assets rather than long-term shelter. This shift concentrates ownership, reduces available supply, and further drives up prices. The result is not only economic displacement, but civic displacement, as residents lose the stability required for meaningful democratic engagement.
The Rise of Common Interest Communities: Overlaying these market dynamics is the rapid growth of common interest communities governed by HOAs. Today, tens of millions of Americans live under HOA governance, while most of the new housing (75%) in the U.S. is located within these legal, quasi-governmental, largely UNREGULATED entities. HOAs were initially promoted as mechanisms for shared maintenance and community standards. In other words, the same functions of the civic associations of Thomas Jefferson’s time. Over time, HOAs have evolved into privatized mini-governmental entities with taxing authority, enforcement powers, and limited accountability.
HOA governance imposes mandatory dues, assessments, and compliance costs that function as a parallel housing tax. These costs are not optional and often escalate over time, particularly as buildings age or deferred maintenance accumulates. For many households, HOA fees materially affect mortgage qualification and monthly affordability, compounding already high housing costs.
HOAs and Housing Cost Inflation: The financial structure of HOAs directly contributes to housing cost inflation. Monthly dues increase the effective cost of ownership, while special assessments introduce unpredictable financial risk. In many cases, reserve planning deficiencies lead to sharp fee increases or large lump-sum assessments, disproportionately affecting fixed-income and middle-income owners.
Beyond direct costs, HOA rules often restrict density, rentals, accessory dwelling units, and adaptive reuse – policies that could otherwise expand housing supply or enable households to offset costs. These restrictions reinforce scarcity and exclusion, aligning with broader market forces that prioritize asset appreciation over affordability. In this way, HOAs operate as micro-level amplifiers of the macro-level housing crisis described by Quartz.
Democratic Implications of HOA Governance: Quartz’s central claim – that housing instability undermines democracy – finds a parallel within HOA governance itself. While HOAs are nominally democratic, participation rates are often low, elections are uncontested, and decision-making is opaque. Power frequently concentrates among a small group of board members or professional managers, reducing resident agency. Board members are typically restricted from receiving compensation under the governing documents of the organization, which decreases participation rates among vested owners in the governance of their own community because they simply cannot afford to participate!
This governance model replaces municipal accountability with private rulemaking, often without the constitutional safeguards or transparency requirements imposed on public institutions. Residents subject to fines, liens, or foreclosure for rule violations experience governance not as participatory democracy, but as coercive administration. The erosion of democratic norms at the neighborhood level mirrors the broader civic disengagement Quartz identifies at the national scale.
Conclusion: The housing crisis confronting the United States is not solely a matter of supply and demand. As Evelyn Quartz compellingly argues, it is a crisis of democracy, rooted in instability, exclusion, and the commodification of shelter. The proliferation of homeowner associations and common interest communities has intensified this crisis by embedding additional financial burdens and privatized governance structures into the housing system.
Understanding the housing crisis requires examining not only market forces but the institutional frameworks that shape daily life within residential communities. HOAs, as dominant stewards of contemporary housing, warrant critical scrutiny for their role in escalating costs and constraining democratic participation. Addressing the housing crisis will require re-centering housing as civic infrastructure – essential not only for economic security, but for the health of American democracy itself.
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