TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A South Florida lawmaker’s suggestion to abolish Florida’s homeowners associations is drawing sharp opposition from industry leaders, even as frustrated residents rally behind the idea.
Rep. Juan Carlos Porras (R-Miami) floated the proposal last month, saying after years of rising fees, selective enforcement, and costly lawsuits, HOAs had become a “failed experiment” that “does more harm than good.” The remarks energized disaffected homeowners statewide — but alarmed the trade group that represents Florida’s community association managers.
Industry Pushback
Mark Anderson, Executive Director of the Chief Executive Officers of Management Companies (CEOMC), said the notion of dissolving HOAs is legally dubious and economically reckless.
“You certainly cannot retroactively ban or dissolve these community associations,” Anderson said Wednesday. “These are legal contracts that homeowners sign to protect their quality of life, their cost of living, and to protect the rights of all the other community association homeowners.”
Anderson warned that abolishing HOAs would shift the costs of infrastructure — including roads, pools, clubhouses, and landscaping — onto taxpayers, while potentially dragging down property values. “Communities or homes that are located within community associations have significantly higher property values than those that don’t,” he said.
A 2024 statewide survey backs that up: 65% of Floridians living in community associations reported satisfaction with their HOA, and 68% agreed HOA rules improve their quality of life.
“The risk of doing away with that would be to, one, remove the right of people to choose where they want to live … and two, force taxpayers who don’t live in HOAs to cover costs these communities now pay themselves,” Anderson said. “That’s not a good idea at a time when cost of living is already a concern.”
Residents’ Frustrations
Still, the calls for reform are resonating with homeowners like Paul and Brandy Miller of Odessa. The couple says their HOA has refused to hold elections, selectively enforced rules, and retaliated against them after they spoke out. They’ve filed a lawsuit, launched Facebook groups, and now plan to organize a march on the Capitol this November.
“There’s always this looming dark cloud when I come home in the evening, and I turn and I go through that gate,” Paul Miller said. “We need to band together, we can make this right if we band together.”
The Millers’ campaign follows a string of high-profile HOA controversies across the state, from a Riverview woman jailed over brown grass to six-figure legal bills over proxy ballots in Carrollwood.
Politics at Play
Even among lawmakers, Porras’ idea is viewed as more of a conversation starter than a legislative blueprint. Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman (R-Highland Beach) said “big ideas” sometimes become little more than first steps.
“We lawmakers or executives throw out an idea just to get the process rolling and the discussion rolling,” she said. “It’s like a trick play in football.”
For now, Porras insists the state should ask if HOAs still make sense — particularly single-family associations that, in his view, deliver little more than a monthly bill. “Maybe we should just do away with homeowner associations as a whole,” he said.
Whether the Legislature follows him down that path is far from certain. Nearly 9.5 million Floridians reside in HOA communities, making them a politically powerful and legally entrenched group. Governor Ron DeSantis has yet to weigh in.
But between the Millers’ march and the CEOMC’s lobbying, one thing is clear: Florida’s HOA debate isn’t going away anytime soon.
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