They're endemic in Florida because of the speed of real estate development there.

HOAs are pushed by state and local Florida governments because they create stronger guarantees about what a new development will self-maintain (and therefore won't need to be immediately funded by a local government).

Also... high COL coastal Floridians (and especially transplants) seem to be incredibly conservative in the sense of 'I want to keep my neighbor from doing anything crazy.'

For them, HOAs are a guarantee that the asset they bought is less likely to be blighted by its neighbors.

Personally? It itched like hell when I lived there, and that was with a fairly relaxed HOA. One of the many reasons I'd never live in Florida again.