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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   2000 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 19, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Why are 55+ communities allowed? What are the perceived benefits of 55+ communities? https://x.com/LeahRain77/status/2079094767233745170 has blown up on X and I know I've seen 55+ communities when searching for houses. They usually come up on searches as less expensive and I guess I assumed they were assisted living facilities but looking at today's drama that's not the case.

It's weird to me that people are getting so offended at the idea of an almost-30 year old woman can continue living in the same home she lived in before her father passed away. What is at stake here to these people that is worth the expense of suing a woman out of her house?

That thread is not exactly good for one's blood pressure. The majority of logic used in excusing it just further cements my personal opinion that people as a whole will gleefully be discriminatory as long as they have the power of the state behind thier actions to excuse it without any self awareness.

And, no, personally, I don't view it as fair. No special exemptions. Either people get the option to discriminate for anything, or no one does.

We should probably allow more forms of HOA segregation and not less. Keeping a community 55+ means you get to live around people who are all likewise retired who can come over and play at 1 pm on a Tuesday. It means the community can focus on building infrastructure that is specifically beneficial to your age group. The pickleball court doesn’t have any young people dominating games. When you were in college would you want a 40 year old guy who works for Deloitte living in your dorm? No.

Should we have Catholic only neighborhoods? Cultural goods can be rivalrous. If a neighborhood is only Catholic then you can build your Church a 5 min walk from everyone’s house. The local restaurants can have very good fried fish because their neighborhood is loaded with people who eat only fish on Fridays.

From first principles segregation can have a lot of beneficial effects. If Chicago could ban black people from a specific neighborhood then the public school in that neighborhood would become very good and no one would feel pressure to pay for private schools. And then no risks of gun violence.

So yes I am a big believer that people should have a right to associate with whoever they want to. And this includes entering contracts to exclude outsiders.

This is getting into why this might have been a culture war topic instead of small scale questions, but I am curious. Why did this exception make it through the Fair Housing Act but not others?

I don't think this story would upset me much if it was fairly applied, so that I could join a Catholic HOA, like you said. Would be really cool to live in a community where a church and Catholic School were within walking distance and we had Corpus Christi processions and Christmas Caroling right outside my house. But, we don't' live in that world, we live in the Fair Housing world. So, why did old (not even that old) people get an exception?

Old people get everything. Legal discrimination in their favor, government paid health care, recent proposals to cut their property taxes. Whatever they want.

At least until the Boomers die, at which point the Millennials and Zoomers will probably screw over Gen X.

Any small question can usually be merged into a larger more culture war question and in this case it’s legally allowing segregation…..is good?

My guess is old people doesn’t cut racial lines at all and every race has old people. A Catholic HOA would essentially be excluding blacks. There is an Islamic group I believe attempting this is Texas but then Trump heard about it and shut it down. In America Islamic enclaves are definitely not popular and even a Catholic enclave feels a little un-American.

I was watching a video on Twitter of a Muslim complaining that the Halal section was tiny compared to the rest of the meat section. Cultural goods in a community are rivals. There is only so much shelf space and built environment. If you want to live in your culture then you kind of do need segregation and exclude other cultures from the built environment.

Segregation reinvented thru first principles.

Why did this exception make it through the Fair Housing Act but not others?

Other categories are protected from discrimination by the 14th amendment and interpretations thereof. Age isn't one of those protected classes, so Congress was able to carve out the exception where it wouldn't be able to do so for religion. Historically AARP had some good lobbying muscle, which is how I imagine Congress was persuaded to create the 55+ exception.

The time I've heard the most complaints about these was from a friend (grad student) trying to find housing in a college town and complaining that lots of the (good) places were 55+ and obviously not available to students. Honestly, in-context I can imagine older adults appreciating some guarantee that the neighbors won't throw a kegger and loudly play beer pong into the wee hours of the morning.

I'm less content with, but maybe understand, not wanting young families adjacent. We should really do better about making most spaces more family-friendly.

lots of the (good) places were 55+ and obviously not available to students.

and if there was student housing on that magic dirt, I'm sure the neighborhood would be just as good. (neighborhoods can be geographically advantaged, but that generally isn't the determining factor.)

lots of the (good) places were 55+ and obviously not available to students.

Remembering myself as a student, I am thinking maybe that's exactly the point. I mean, I wasn't particularly wild and rowdy, but there was certain amounts or drinking, listening to loud musing and various behaviors that could be considered obnoxious by 50+ year old me involved. If you want peaceful, quiet, respectful neighbors, the students kinda carry a high risk profile on this one. I know not students are like that, and not all the time, but why take the chance?

listening to loud musing

A philosopy student, I see...

Honestly, in-context I can imagine older adults appreciating some guarantee that the neighbors won't throw a kegger and loudly play beer pong into the wee hours of the morning.

This makes some sense, but could be enforced with some noise ordinances instead of age discrimination?

Noise ordnances can only be enforces after the noise is made. And, to be honest, what the enforcement can do? In the best case, police would come and tell them to shut it down. For today. And they'll also hate you forever if they learn who called it. And will repeat the same next week. More likely though, police wouldn't even come because they have better things to do (and if it's a university city, as likely as not they voted to give them as little funding as possible anyway) so they'd just register the complaint and be done with it.

If an HOA has a rule about noise after a certain time of day, then if someone violated it they would have to pay fees and potentially lose their home. It's basically the same thing as this tiktok girl being forced from her home, but with less discrimination over something she can't control.

they would have to pay fees and potentially lose their home.

I haven't heard of any case that HOA evicted someone from their house for unpaid fines. In any case, that would likely be a multi-year very expensive lawsuit. And the students would likely be renters, so they couldn't care less about that. Given that renter evictions in places where there are a lot of students usually are also a long and expensive process, the only real threat to the noise makers would be not extending their lease at the end of it - which may be up to a year ahead - and police arresting them (which probably wouldn't happen but at least they could threaten and intimidate them - if they show up at all).

Age discrimination is probably less of a hassle to enforce than a noise ordinance (hear the loud party late at night when you're trying to sleep, call the police, wait for the police to show up and tell your neighbors to turn the music down, rinse repeat if they decide to turn the music up again once the police have left).

Why are 55+ communities allowed?

A cursory search indicates that 55+ communities are specifically exempted from federal law's ban on age/race/etc. discrimination in housing.

What are the perceived benefits of 55+ communities? It's weird to me that people are getting so offended at the idea of an almost-30-year-old woman can continue living in the same home she lived in before her father passed away.

In the vein of the famous comic: (1) You signed a contract. (2) Obey the contract. Whining that the contract is "weird" and (in the linked tweet) "HOAs have too much power" will not garner any sympathy when you agreed to the contract's provisions and you are free to just live somewhere else.

Power of HOA is not inherent - it usually resides on city codes, state laws and such. It is not weird to argue for changing those to curtail powers that can be given to HOA. Regulations that make certain contract provisions - either inherent or implied - void by law are not unheard of. And most HOAs use template contracts, so arguing for changing those is valid too. I had an HOA and I didn't feel its power is too big, but I also heard horror stories too, so I think one can't just dismiss it so easily.

In the vein of the famous comic: (1) You signed a contract. (2) Obey the contract. Whining that the contract is "weird" and (in the linked tweet) "HOAs have too much power" will not garner any sympathy when you agreed to the contract's provisions and you are free to just live somewhere else.

Did the daughter ever agree to the contract's provisions?

It doesn’t matter whether she or her father agreed to the HOA, it comes with the house. Most HOAs are covered by restrictive covenants that are written into the title of the property and must ybe conveyed in perpetuity when ownership is transferred by sale, inheritance or other means.

In this case, she can own the property, but she can’t reside in it without a waiver from the HOA.

Such covenants are not so solid depending on the covenant in question.

I assume her father did, and her father violated the contract with his will. If the daughter is now the executor of his estate, she has an obligation to fulfill the contracts her father signed as much as possible. If I understand correctly.

A cursory search indicates that 55+ communities are specifically exempted from federal law's ban on age/race/etc. discrimination in housing.

My question is more geared towards "What is the reasoning behind allowing this?" What is the massive benefit to society that justifies creating this carve-out?

Tax paying citizens who won't be using the local schools?

You have the purpose of allowing old people complexes reversed. The reason to allow them is to concentrate Boomers who are interested in HOA busybody lifestyles away from the rest of us. I don't want to live in a place where the old lady next door is going to call the police because there are kids playing in the street. By allowing old people complexes, it gives them the opportunity to live out their dream of being in everyone else's business without directly being in my business.

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