In many parts of the world it is illegal to live on your own land in an RV, build a house less than 400sf, build a house without a septic tank system or connecting to city sewer, build and occupy an ADU (tiny house) in your own backyard, run a cottage industry out of your garage, use greywater on your veggies, have a compost toilet, or sublet to more tenants.
Some people will elect to choose a shelter strategy that stays within the legal rules. For some people this may be a necessity in order to not risk scrutiny for other aspects of their lives. There are other patterns to consider for completely legal shelter.
Others will choose to ‘go outlaw’ with their approach to shelter. This can be a form of civil disobedience and quiet protest: there are many housing rules which are simply not just, or no longer appropriate for the world we live in. Minimum housing size laws are fundamentally racist and classist, for example, and are also connected to the house-as-investment financialization of modern life that is odious to broad scale human dignity. Some rules were a good idea at the time, but no longer relevant.
Many rules ARE a good idea, and are in fact just. It’s a good thing that it’s illegal to build a house so structurally unsound it is a danger to anyone living in it. It’s a good thing that it’s illegal to send raw sewage into the street gutter where cholera can brew.
This is the tension of going outlaw for shelter. Discernment and moral wisdom must be applied in equal quantities with skill and competence.
Outlaw Shelter Patterns:
- live in your rig
- convert a bus or trailer
- build a tinyhouse if you don’t get it permitted
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