In the past 30 years, community associations and other forms of collective ownership of residential property have spread across the United States, now meeting the housing needs of about 15 percent of all Americans. In almost all cases, the collective ownership instruments have been established...

In 2004, more than 17 percent of all Americans belonged to a homeowners or condominium association, or were part of a cooperative. This privatizing of the American neighborhood represents a fundamental development in the history both of local government and of property rights in the United...