OK, everybody probably has a different solution, but this one works very consistently for me.

-first go to HomeKit and take a look at what the current connected home hub is (homekit settings -> home hubs and bridges ->connected. )
restart this hub, which is very easy to do if it is a AirPod. Do not reset, just restart.  if you find it has problems restarting, youâ  re starting to zero in on where problem location is.  iâ  ve found often on AirPods that it tells me I am not logged in with a proper account, even though I am. trying a second time usually fixed this.  if itâ  s an Apple TV, you have to go to the screen and restart it.
-Take a look at what is now the current homekit hub. It has jumped to another place.  this occurred when the restart took the last hub location off-line.
-now reset the next hub location. This might not be necessary but I do it because it takes only a few minutes and easy to do.
-The final result should be all of your AirPods look like they are set up correctly and are paused.
-HomeKit will now work after this fix. (at least from my system) Daylight savings seem to have caused a problem but then it only took a second to fix it.

(on your automations, make sure you have your logic lined up correctly. some of my automations were conflicting â   my bad â   and that was causing perhaps part of the problem.)

Perhaps a final note, when youâ  re starting an AirPod you go to the reset button and when you do you get two options â   reset or restart. I was a little hesitant to hit this first reset button because I was just wanting to restart but there it is, I suspect you could just unplug the AirPod , give it 10 Mississippis, and just plug it back in also.