YEAR-END REVIEW
LOOKING BACK ON THE OBSTACLE COURSE KNOWN AS 2021.
Here’s my summary of the highs and lows this year. It’s been a challenging 365 days, but we’re coming out of it all with growth and transformation. By Jessica L. Melvin, CCAM
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Vision Winter 2021 | cacm.org
OBSTACLE 1:
Breakneck Legislation With 13 bills approved and several more waiting in the wings, 2021 was quite the unprecedented year for legislation. While not all bad, there were quite a few headache-inducing and unfavorable bills in the mix. Reeling from the effects of a previous legislation, we now have even more legislation that generally infuriate our communities and makes our professional lives a little more colorful. For example, AB-68 permitting ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) like granny flats, shipping containers, converted anything, really, now allows homes to add up to three ADUs or be transformed into four-unit dwellings. Initially, managers didn’t think that ADUs would affect their communities, but later on, many of us found ourselves navigating through many ADU-related processes with committees, boards, and homeowners
over the last year. We even saw additional bankruptcy protections from our collection efforts with AB-1885 and scrambled to comply with rental restriction modifications of AB-3182. The major takeaway is that you can smell where the industry is headed just by taking a whiff of the laws passed. Because some of these changes came with short compliance deadlines, many associations weren’t prepared to spend funds on document amendments and additional mail outs. Legislative changes are becoming more numerous and cumbersome by the year. Several associations are increasing operating costs to cover them as the trend shows no sign of letting up anytime soon.
OBSTACLE 2:
Socioeconomic Effects Compared to other states this past year, California seems to have had more issues with socioeconomic
