4 ms·

>local regulations state that I am not allowed to live with more than 2 people unrelated to me What? Where is that? It sounds insane and extreme overreach. How

>local regulations state that I am not allowed to live with more than 2 people unrelated to me What? Where is that? It sounds insane and extreme overreach. How can somebody regulate with whom consenting adults choose to live?

londons_explore 5y ago
Regulations like this are common. Usually you need to get a special license, have home inspections annually, pay various fees, etc. if you want to do so.
- KptMarchewa 5y ago
  Regulations where you'd specify minimum floor size, or rooms per person make sense for me. It's about straight up saying you can't live with people without state sanctioning the relationship.
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    In my region, the rules are so incredibly precise. Things like washing up areas must have at least 3 bowels in. Toilets must have flush handles above a certain height and below another height. Radiators must have 6 heat settings... Etc. The entire aim seems to be to make running such a house not illegal, but very difficult and very expensive.
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      Precise laws are usually because enumerating every single bad alternative is an issue, so they just tell you what is permissible. Besides, such specificity is usually drawn from building code best practices, which advocate for standardization. Which means that manufacturers don't bother creating radiators with less than six heat settings.
dave5104 5y ago
Occupancy limits are somewhat common in many cities/towns. But probably only enforced via neighborly complaint, so you don't really hear about them. Just searching "occupancy limits city" popped up the limits for Boulder, CO: https://bouldercolorado.gov/occupancy-limits https://bouldercolorado.gov/occupancy-limits
- zardo 5y ago
  The kind of thing where you're fine unless you're "a problem" for one of your neighbors A problem as defined by your nosiest, most uptight, or most xenophobic neighbor.
- panzagl 5y ago
  Boulder is... special. A college town where a bunch of rich people decided to live. I've never seen a campus with so many non-students on it, just hanging out like they belong there or zipping through campus on their bikes at 40 mph. But most college towns have similar occupancy laws for neighborhoods where they want to keep students of the wrong sort out of.
pge 5y ago
These kinds of regulations are extremely common (I might even go so far as to say they are the norm) in many US suburbs. Such restrictions are intended to prevent single-famiy homes from being used as large group houses. A probably intentional byproduct of the restrictions is also to keep lower-income residents out of desirable neighborhoods (by preventing for example, two families from occupying a large house that neither could afford individually). Minimum lot sizes have a similar consequence. If you're interested in getting into the history of housing restrictions, particularly as they pertain to efforts to limit lower-income (often minority) buyers, Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law is a good book to start with.
programmarchy 5y ago
If you have a family home, you probably don’t want 8 college students moving into the house next door to you. This was a restriction in my college town. As a student, I didn’t like it, but as a homeowner with a family, I completely understand.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  8 people in an entire house? I don't see the problem. 3 college students could just about as easily be bad neighbors as 8. Unless the idea is that 3 students would be too poor to live in that neighborhood, in which case a rule like that is even worse than I thought.
- MiroF 5y ago
  If you want to control who lives next to you, feel free to buy the neighboring properties.
  - programmarchy 5y ago
    Thankfully, I don't live in ancapistan, so I can vote instead.
    - vkou 5y ago
      Yes, and by voting the way that you do, you are creating a housing crisis. I'd like for people expressing these political preferences to not be allowed to live in my neighbourhood either, but unlike you, I also recognize that you have as much right to live there as those 8 college students.
    - conanbatt 5y ago
      Actually if you live in the bay area, you live in an oligarchy. A great part of the renters in the area cannot vote and thus are not represented in this matter. If foreigners could vote in San Francisco, the majority of which are renters, it would overwhelmingly crush this position.
  - scatters 5y ago

londons_explore 5y ago

Regulations like this are common. Usually you need to get a special license, have home inspections annually, pay various fees, etc. if you want to do so.

KptMarchewa 5y ago
Regulations where you'd specify minimum floor size, or rooms per person make sense for me. It's about straight up saying you can't live with people without state sanctioning the relationship.
- londons_explore 5y ago
  In my region, the rules are so incredibly precise. Things like washing up areas must have at least 3 bowels in. Toilets must have flush handles above a certain height and below another height. Radiators must have 6 heat settings... Etc. The entire aim seems to be to make running such a house not illegal, but very difficult and very expensive.
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    Precise laws are usually because enumerating every single bad alternative is an issue, so they just tell you what is permissible. Besides, such specificity is usually drawn from building code best practices, which advocate for standardization. Which means that manufacturers don't bother creating radiators with less than six heat settings.

dave5104 5y ago

Occupancy limits are somewhat common in many cities/towns. But probably only enforced via neighborly complaint, so you don't really hear about them. Just searching "occupancy limits city" popped up the limits for Boulder, CO: https://bouldercolorado.gov/occupancy-limits https://bouldercolorado.gov/occupancy-limits

zardo 5y ago
The kind of thing where you're fine unless you're "a problem" for one of your neighbors A problem as defined by your nosiest, most uptight, or most xenophobic neighbor.
panzagl 5y ago
Boulder is... special. A college town where a bunch of rich people decided to live. I've never seen a campus with so many non-students on it, just hanging out like they belong there or zipping through campus on their bikes at 40 mph. But most college towns have similar occupancy laws for neighborhoods where they want to keep students of the wrong sort out of.

pge 5y ago

These kinds of regulations are extremely common (I might even go so far as to say they are the norm) in many US suburbs. Such restrictions are intended to prevent single-famiy homes from being used as large group houses. A probably intentional byproduct of the restrictions is also to keep lower-income residents out of desirable neighborhoods (by preventing for example, two families from occupying a large house that neither could afford individually). Minimum lot sizes have a similar consequence. If you're interested in getting into the history of housing restrictions, particularly as they pertain to efforts to limit lower-income (often minority) buyers, Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law is a good book to start with.

programmarchy 5y ago

If you have a family home, you probably don’t want 8 college students moving into the house next door to you. This was a restriction in my college town. As a student, I didn’t like it, but as a homeowner with a family, I completely understand.

Dylan16807 5y ago
8 people in an entire house? I don't see the problem. 3 college students could just about as easily be bad neighbors as 8. Unless the idea is that 3 students would be too poor to live in that neighborhood, in which case a rule like that is even worse than I thought.
MiroF 5y ago
If you want to control who lives next to you, feel free to buy the neighboring properties.
- programmarchy 5y ago
  Thankfully, I don't live in ancapistan, so I can vote instead.
  - vkou 5y ago
    Yes, and by voting the way that you do, you are creating a housing crisis. I'd like for people expressing these political preferences to not be allowed to live in my neighbourhood either, but unlike you, I also recognize that you have as much right to live there as those 8 college students.
  - conanbatt 5y ago
    Actually if you live in the bay area, you live in an oligarchy. A great part of the renters in the area cannot vote and thus are not represented in this matter. If foreigners could vote in San Francisco, the majority of which are renters, it would overwhelmingly crush this position.
- scatters 5y ago