“And we’re not done yet!”

That's how Tere concluded her celebration speech after she and her neighbors built a movement of representational leadership in their HOA. 

 Take 2 and a half minutes and watch her story in the video. I promise it will be worth your time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cht6TGy7rs

More Details:

 Across Orange County, HOAs overseeing condo communities where a high % of residents earn low wages are consistently becoming distressed. HOA boards are largely made up of landlords who lack the experiential awareness of the most pressing needs of the community and have less incentive to think about long-term housing conditions like roofs, leading to suppressed reserves and a decreased ability to respond to maintenance needs. 

Additionally in our community, many resident homeowners are speaking English as their second language and facing other barriers to feeling adequately represented in the HOA's decisions and adequately attended to by their property management.  

Our Unidos team realized that although there are many issues to address to ensure housing stability, one of them is that resident homeowners have a clear pathway to use their voices and make local changes.  

With the support and consultation of Unidos staff, residents collaborated, met on street corners; knocked on hundreds of doors; talked with resident owners, landlords and renters; wrote letters and hosted forums. Their goal was to encourage the community that their voice matters, and that although the problems may seem insurmountable, they should "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." (Margaret Mead).