The zoning laws are not there because people need to be forced into detached single family homes. On the contrary, I think you would be hard pressed to find man

The zoning laws are not there because people need to be forced into detached single family homes. On the contrary, I think you would be hard pressed to find many families with 2+ children who don't want to live in detached single family homes. Zoning laws exist because people don't just live in houses, they also live in neighborhoods. And when they buy into a neighborhood, they want the neighborhood to generally maintain it's character (since that's part of what attracted them to the neighborhood in the first place). In fact, neighborhood character is so valuable to many people that they will opt into restrictions (CC&Rs) above and beyond what is required by law in order to achieve an even more uniform character in their neighborhood. I tend to have a more libertarian bent, personally, when it comes to people building what they want on their land, but zoning laws are not about oppression of private property owners. You see them as a bug, but many people see them as a feature.