!["[It] just takes one person to start meaningful change."](https://www.thecooldown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/eco-friendly-policiesimage-recDOlLpnZynZsdW1-1.jpg?w=1920&h=800)
Though common in many parts of the United States, homeowners associations (HOAs) are still relatively controversial organizations.
Though they can provide helpful services to neighborhoods, such as outdoor maintenance and access to community amenities like gyms or pools, they also can place restrictions on things like outdoor home design and may demand steep fines if their rules are not followed to the letter of the law.
It's that easily aroused ire of HOA boards that was the topic of discussion on the r/HOA subreddit.
"Has anyone had any luck implementing green/eco-friendly policies?" read the post's title. "The main solutions [I'd] like to implement immediately would be reseeding with native grasses and ground cover and raising the blade significantly/less frequent mowing."
From people trying to install solar panels on their roofs to folks just wanting to add native plants to their lawns (and many more examples where those came from), it's clear that HOAs can be unwilling to approve aesthetic home alterations that severely deviate from neighborhood norms, even if those alterations are for an environmentally conscious purpose.
The stalling of such progressive changes is not only environmentally regressive; it also likely dissuades neighbors from implementing similar sustainable living methods, creating a sort of negative domino effect on the local environment.
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However, it is possible to work with an HOA to encourage these changes and make the community a more eco-friendly place.
The original poster clearly went to the right place with their question, as readers quickly hopped into the comments section with advice.
"We updated our [community-wide standards] to include an assortment of ground covers and landscaping options to encourage more native, drought-tolerant, no-mow, and no-fertilizer options," read one response. "Promote what you do want to see versus only restricting. Make recommendations in a document that is easy to understand."
Another Redditor clearly laid out the most thorough (if not most time-consuming) road forward: "It's not a quick problem to solve but [it] just takes one person to start meaningful change. The first thing to do is attend the next meeting."
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Yes 💯 They went on to explain that the OP should ask to join the board to "find out what's really happening."
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