For over two hundred years the single family dwelling has been the sine qua non of the American dream. One of the first things a pioneer family would do when they settled a piece of land would be to erect a log cabin or a sod hut — something where the family could shelter and find privacy from a cruel and demanding world.
But all that is now changing in 2020 America. Thousands of zoning laws across the land are being changed this new to allow apartments, condos, even trailer homes, into areas formerly restricted to single family homes. Mini homes are also being touted as the New Best Thing by housing experts, who say that changing demographics and rising single home dwelling costs are making it impossible for a majority of the population of the United States to find a decent place to live and raise their families.
Urban sprawl also accounts for much of the about face in zoning laws, especially in land-squeezed areas of the East Coast and West Coast — where states like California and Vermont are literally running out of space for any more suburbs or expansive housing tracts.
Social scientists now say that the chance of an American being able to afford to move into a standard single family home twenty years from now will be less than thirty percent.
Welcome to the Age of the Apartment!