HOAs Are Often Barriers to Sustainable Landscaping and Solar Energy – Here’s How They Could Be Bridges Instead
Researchers found 3 of 4 associations required minimum home sizes or lawn rules, while fewer than 1 in 20 required native plants.
- A recent research analysis of 31 homeowner associations in Ingham County, Michigan, reveals that these private organizations frequently impede residential sustainability by mandating turfgrass and restricting solar panels.
- Researchers found that while 71% and 81% of HOAs impose minimum home sizes, only 3% require native plants, and one-third limit household energy production such as solar panels or wind turbines.
- A second study in Madison, Wisconsin, demonstrates the impact of these rules: yards subject to native-plant requirements averaged 29.5% native cover, compared with 6.9% where associations imposed no such mandates.
- Increasingly, states like California, Arizona, and Maryland are intervening to limit HOA authority, preventing associations from banning solar panels, drought-resistant landscaping, and native plants.
- Future neighborhoods could treat environmental sustainability as the default rather than an aspiration with obstacles, as developers and city planners work with HOAs to shift from barriers to sustainable-futures partners.
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HOAs are often barriers to sustainable landscaping and solar energy – here’s how they could be bridges instead
Many HOAs are designed with a uniform look, often featuring mandatory turfgrass lawns. JamesBrey/E+ via Getty ImagesIf you build a house in the United States today, there’s a good chance you’ll be living under the dictates of a neighborhood homeowners association – roughly two out of every three new homes are in an HOA, as are a third of existing homes. Some of these HOAs have evolved to encourage environmentally friendly yards, particularly in …
HOAs are regularly obstacles to sustainable landscaping and solar power – right here’s how they might be bridges as an alternative
If you happen to construct a space in the USA as of late, there’s an excellent chance you’ll be residing below the dictates of a local house owners affiliation – more or less two out of each 3 new houses are in an HOA, as are a 3rd of present houses. A few of these HOAs have developed to inspire environmentally pleasant yards, specifically within the wilderness Southwest, however many extra throw up obstacles to sustainability, even in communiti…
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