Sometimes the story we think we know turns out to be something different.

After working on CondoWonk articles that revealed blind spots in California’s required Reserve Studies and questioned the conventional wisdom on reserve funding, I took another look at the tragedy that looms over every discussion of these topics: Champlain Towers in Surfside, Florida.

In the early hours of June 24, 2021, when most residents were asleep, the 12-story condominium building partially collapsed, taking 98 lives. The original news stories portrayed a board that neglected warning signs and then failed to raise enough money to properly care for their building.

That was the story I remembered. Four years later, published results of a forensic analysis offered a different perspective.

Similar to what happens after an airplane crash, researchers spread out all the pieces in a giant warehouse to try to determine the cause. It turns out that the condominium’s problems began with faulty construction 40 years previously. While certainly not improved by water intrusion and other events over the years, the building was doomed from the beginning.

Meanwhile, Florida legislative efforts began immediately after the crash, aimed at preventing the next such tragedy. Those efforts, based on the original narrative of a negligent board, requires HOAs to fully fund reserves 25 years into the future. Those remedies, which have influenced discussion across the country, may make it harder to take care of normally aging buildings—housing California desperately needs and can’t afford to lose.

You can read the whole Champlain Towers story here.

In future installments, CondoWonk will look at practical ideas for boards struggling to determine what repairs are needed and how to get them funded. We’ll also consider public policy solutions for California, including potential legislation. If you have thoughts, please share them.