ADA Compliance: Is Your HOA Website Accessible?

If you have spent any time managing an HOA, you are probably no stranger to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Most boards have at least a working awareness of what it means for physical spaces, such as ramps at the clubhouse entrance, accessible parking near common areas, and such things. But there is a side of ADA compliance that catches HOA boards of guard: your website. 

And I understand why. When Congress passed the ADA back in 1990, the internet barely existed. Nobody was thinking about alt text and color contrast ratios. But that was over three decades ago, and things have evolved since then. Most HOAs nowadays use websites to post meeting agendas, announce violations, share architectural guidelines, and share declarations and bylaws. 

With this evolution, the same ADA federal law now extends to your website. And beyond the obvious goal of serving all residents fairly, non-compliance with this ADA website law exposes your association to lawsuits, settlement costs, and attorneys’ fees. To avoid getting into that mess, I’ll walk you through ADA compliance for websites, help you determine whether your HOA website is accessible or not, and then guide you on how to comply.

Why HOA boards need to pay attention to ADA compliance

HOAs are basically private residential communities. As such, you aren’t always subject to the same rules as a government agency or a retail business. But that doesn’t mean you are off the hook when it comes to website accessibility. The ADA and the Fair Housing Act often work in parallel for HOAs. The FHA addresses housing-related discrimination and requires associations to make reasonable accommodations in homes and common areas. The ADA, on the other hand, governs public accommodations, which basically depend on how your community operates. 

But what really changed the conversation was April 2024, when the Department of Justice published its final rule updating the ADA Title II. That rule set explicit standards for web content and mobile applications, specifically requiring conformance to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. While Title II directly targets state and local governments, Title III (which applies to businesses and public accommodations) has been increasingly enforced with those same standards in mind. And the legal pressure on private organizations, including HOAs, is now growing. 

Several states have already stepped ahead of the federal conversation. Florida, Texas, Nevada, and Wisconsin, for example, now require HOAs to maintain active websites. If you are running HOAs in one of those states, then you probably have a website. If the website isn’t accessible, that means you’re discriminating against some residents from accessing the web content.

What does “accessible website” actually mean?

The best way to understand website accessibility is to think about how people with disabilities navigate the web. Someone who is blind uses a screen reader that converts on-screen text to audio. Someone who is deaf or hard of hearing relies on captions to understand video content. Someone with a motor disability uses voice recognition software or keyboard navigation instead of a mouse. When a website isn’t built with these users in mind, it creates barriers just as real as a set of stairs blocking a wheelchair user from entering a building. 

Your HOA website is likely the first place residents get information from, such as meeting dates, governing documents, announcements, and community rules. If that information isn’t accessible to everyone, you are creating a bad user experience and building your own legal exposure. With the April 2024 interpretation, non-compliant organizations, including HOAs, can face settlements of attorney fees and injunctive relief. Then there are state laws. For example, in California, violations under the Unruh Act can run up to $4,000+ per violation.

How ADA Title III applies to HOAs

This is where I see a lot of confusion, so let me be direct: if your HOA operates any space or amenity that is open to the general public, even if occasionally, then the ADA applies. Here are some situations where that would be the case: 

• Your clubhouse hosts meetings for outside clubs, churches, or schools 
• You rent community space to a lawyer, notary, or other professional whose clients visit on-site 
• Your courts or pool facilities are used for events open to the public, like swim meets or tennis tournaments 
• Your walking trails, golf course, or playground are accessible to non-residents 
• You sell membership passes to the general public for use of your gym or pool 
• You operate a parking lot with guest access 

Even part-time public access to any of these spaces brings your HOA under ADA Title III compliance requirements, and once that applies to your physical facilities, it also extends to your website.

What your website needs to meet according to the WCAG framework

The technical standard behind ADA website compliance is the Web Content Accessibility Guideline, which was created by the W3C. WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the benchmark, and it is built around four core principles: 

• Perceivable: Users need to be able to perceive all the information on your site, regardless of their disability. That means providing text alternatives for images, adding captions to video and audio content, maintaining a 4.5:1 color contrast ratio for standard text, and allowing text to be enlarged up to 200% without breaking the layout. 
• Operable: Your site should be fully navigable by keyboard alone (not just mouse), time limits on interactive content should be reasonable, and nothing on the page should trigger seizures or create disorienting motion. 
• Understandable: The content itself needs to be readable and predictable. Forms should have clear labels, error messages should be helpful, and nothing should behave in an unexpected way. 
• Robust: Your site should be built on clean, standards-compliant code that works across different browsers and assistive technologies, not just today, but as those technologies continue to evolve.

Consequences of non-compliance with ADA requirements for websites  

I want to be honest because I think some boards underestimate this risk until it is too late. ADA website accessibility lawsuits are not rare, and they are not cheap. In most cases, settlements land somewhere between $2,000 to $50,000, and that is before you factor in the cost of actually fixing your website. On top of that, losing HOAs are often required to cover their plaintiff’s attorney’s fees, which can dwarf the settlement itself. 

And then there is the operational impact side of things. For example, if even 2% of your community residents can’t access meeting notices or participate in electronic voting because your website isn’t accessible, you are already setting yourself up for quorum problems. 

Important votes get delayed, decisions get postponed, and the residents who couldn’t participate, through no fault of their own, have every right to feel excluded from the community they pay into. That turns out to be a governance and transparency problem and can cause disputes over time.

Steps to make your HOA website accessible

The good news is that most accessibility improvements aren’t a complete rebuild, but they are targeted fixes that, once in place, make an accessibility difference. Here is where to start: 

Keyboard navigation

Not everyone uses a mouse. People with motor disabilities often rely on keyboard commands to move through a website. Every interactive element on your site, such as menus, buttons, links, and forms, should be reachable using the tab key, and users should never get trapped in a component with no way out.

Alt text for images

When a screen reader finds a photo without description, it either skips it entirely or reads out something unhelpful like “image003.jpg”. Every meaningful image on your site, such as photos, charts, and icons, should have concise, descriptive alt text that conveys what the image is communicating. Purely decorative images should be marked with an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them without confusion.

Alt text for color cues

Color can be a useful visual cue, but it shouldn’t be the only cue. Someone who is color blind won’t know that red text means a required field, and a screen reader won’t announce colors at all. If your website uses color to communicate something, such as an alert, a status, or a required input, pair it with a text label or icon so the information gets through regardless.

Accessible forms

HOA websites often include forms for things like maintenance requests and document requests. For this to work out for everyone, each field needs a clear label that screen readers can announce. Instructions should be in plain language, and error messages need to actually tell the user what went wrong and how to fix it. For example, “Error” is not a helpful error message. But saying “Please enter a valid email address” is a helpful error message.

Time limits

Some users, particularly those with cognitive and motor disabilities, need more time to complete tasks on a website. If your site has any timed sessions or interactive elements with countdowns, give users the ability to extend or disable those limits. Don’t design your site in a way that punishes someone for moving at their own pace.

Color contrast 

Color blind people or people with limited vision have problems reading text when the contrast is low. For instance, having a light-colored background and light gray text can cause reading issues or eye strain. WCAG 2.1 Level AA requires a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or higher between standard text and its background, and 3:1 for large text. I suggest you run your site through a contrast checker to confirm compliance. 

Captions and transcripts for media 

If your HOA website includes meeting recordings, video announcements, or audio content, those need captions. For residents who are deaf or hard of hearing, an uncaptioned video is completely inaccessible. Transcripts for audio-only content serve the same purpose, and they are also useful for residents who simply prefer to read rather than listen. 

Avoid flashing content 

Content that flashes more than three times per second can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. WCAG explicitly prohibits it. If you have any animated content, banners, or videos on your site, make sure nothing crosses that threshold.

Final thoughts 

The ADA doesn’t include specific language written for websites, but the courts across the country have made it clear that websites are expected to be accessible. The April 2024 DOJ rule reinforced it at the Federal level, and private organizations, including HOAs, are increasingly in the crosshairs of accessibility litigation. More than legal risk, though, I’d encourage boards to think about what an inaccessible website actually says to the residents it is supposed to serve. 

Your website is the front door to your community’s information, and it should be open to everyone. If your HOA website isn’t ADA compliant today, start planning. Audit what you have, prioritize the highest impact fixes, and work with an HOA website development platform that understands accessibility requirements. And if you’re building a new HOA website from scratch, do yourself a favor and build it right the first time.