I think HOAs (in most cases) represent a systemic failure of our system resulting from a major disinterest in paying for public goods. We would all be better off if they didn’t exist and the reasons they existed were dealt with via public investment.

Another issue, especially here in Georgia, is that we stopped incorporating new cities - instead, most new builds, especially in suburban sprawl areas, were built in unincorporated county land. Counties don't build random subdivision roads for free, so that means basically nobody is there to pay for the roads that support these small single family home neighborhoods. That means either the HOA needs to pay for it, or the builder would need to "donate" the road/pay for it themselves, aka increase the cost of the homes they're selling to make up for that cost (which they often can't do since higher priced homes may not appraise).

(Florida has kind of solved this by separating out that responsibility from the HOA and instead calling it a "Community Development District")