It's one thing to use it as convenient way to change anything remotely but linking home automation not only into constant internet connectivity but also "that one particular cloud thing that might disappear at any moment" (hello google) just seems like setting yourself for problems later. At least in this case he's still left with HASS if cloudy part goes away.
But I wish there was more push into hybrid model - like have your router or small ARM box be server that runs queue and some, for lack of better word, "lambda-like" code that handles most of the programmed events (lights, heating etc.), say via WASM and some APIs around it, then just have HASS-like software (both cloud and local) deploy control rules/code onto it.
Big nice UI for control goes down ? Doesn't matter, the controller is just running simple code, not rest of the visualisation and controls. Want to replace it ? Configuration as code makes that a breeze, hell, have cloud backup of whole setup. Don't want controller ? It's essentially just a queue and some code runners, that cloud providers can host for you. Want pretty graphs in cloud or some aggregation ? Just make your local node filter and send relevant MQ events there.