The confounding politics of camping in America
A related issue to restrictions regarding camping is the politics of zoning laws in America.  As someone who works in Silicon Valley and can afford to rent an apartment but cannot afford to purchase even a condo in the area, for the past few years I&#x27;ve researched alternatives such as living in a mobile home and buying land and placing a tiny house on it.  However, the zoning laws in many of the municipalities within a two-hour radius of Silicon Valley make it very difficult to do these things.  In all the municipalities I researched, I&#x27;m not allowed to live in a mobile home on my own land unless I&#x27;m in the process of building a home on a permanent foundation.  Homes on a permanent foundation must meet minimum size requirements, thus prohibiting tiny homes and thus requires spending more money for a larger place.  Permits can cost many thousands of dollars, and that&#x27;s assuming I could get the permits.  Water is a serious issue; in some parts of Monterey County, there are long waitlists to connect to the water system, and in Cambria (a town in northern San Luis Obispo County) there&#x27;s an ordinance barring any new construction until more water is available.<p>A part of me understands the rationale for these restrictions.  But another part of me feels discouraged that the real estate market in much of California is all sewn up with no way to &quot;hack&quot; it without figuring out how to make $200K+ per year or throwing in the towel and moving to some other part of the state or outside California.  Thus I continue to rent my apartment while trying to find other ways to get into real estate.