A report from Boulder Weekly in Colorado. "When Adam Perry got home one afternoon in August, he had a notice on the door from his homeowners’ association (HOA) announcing the roofs around the Iris Hollow condominium complex were in dire need of repair. The notice said, 'there’s a special assessment coming and it’s going to substantially increase your dues,' Perry recalls. 'I completely freaked out.'"

"He bought the place in 2014 through the City of Boulder’s Permanently Affordable (PA) Home Program, and this was the second time he was being hit with a special assessment. The first was in 2017, for the outdoor, uncovered stairs; now the roof. Next, he’d heard, the stucco, and then repaving the parking lot."

"'The people who own condos at Iris Hollow who bought in through this program are suffering right now,' Perry says. 'It’s not called the permanently affordable mortgage program, it’s called the permanently affordable home ownership program.'"

"One of his neighbors, he says, is simply unable to pay the HOA fees and there is a lien on their home. Another one is trying to sell and get out of the program but is worried they won’t be able to with both the current and upcoming assessments."

"'I thought this would be the next best thing, but it’s a black hole,' PA owner Amy Gahran says. Her current HOA payments almost equal her monthly mortgage. For Perry, it’s more than his mortgage. When he bought the home, he thought he was committing his family (including daughter Sidney, now in the third grade) to an $820 monthly mortgage payment, and monthly HOA fees of $350. Over the years, the fee increased to $420. Then came the assessments."

"'My monthly HOA right now is $844, and starting in March, it’s going to be just under $1,200. That’s insane,' Perry says. 'I don’t think any reasonable person would call that affordable.'"

"As a matter of comparison, Perry is currently paying a combined monthly payment equal to that of a mortgage on a $480,000 home on the open market."

"The City does offer HOA education prior to purchasing a home through the program and encourages PA owners to get involved in their HOA budgeting process as part of the board. It also hosts a bi-annual HOA group through the neighborhood liaisons for PA owners to bring concerns and ask experts questions."

"'I remember them saying that if anything happens outside of your home, it’s going to be covered by the HOA,' Perry says of the HOA education he received. 'It’s not like anybody let us know when we bought there’s probably going to be literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs that need to happen in the next few years.'"

"'What happens when you buy a quote ‘permanently affordable’ home and then it’s not affordable anymore?' Perry asks. 'How can the City just wash their hands of that and say, 'Well, you bought the place.'"

"'I’m 52, I was hoping when I bought here, I would be set. And the next thing coming out of my place in a box is me,' says Gahran, who hopes to sell her unit and move to a new development in Longmont. 'Frankly, I’m expecting I’m going to have to eat this,' she says. 'I just hope I get out in time before more assessments get levied.'"