Memo from hurricane Sandy: Move to higher ground. This is yet another reason to end exclusionary zoning. People should be able to live in a home of their own choosing. I wonder how many people who lost their home to hurricane Sandy would opt to live in a motor home instead of rebuilding their expensive site built home if that choice was available to them? That way when the next hurricane comes they could just drive inland until the storm passes. And don’t kid yourself, there will be a next time sooner rather than later thanks to global warming. Even a small singlewide would be easier and much quicker to replace than rebuilding a site built home. A travel trailer could still be moved and saved almost as easily as driving off in a motor home. Some people have remarked how much less global warming is being talked about in this election compared to the 2008 election. That’s because the fossil fuel industry has poured a lot of money into disinformation about global warming and has put a lot of money into lobbying against any global warming solutions.

Even if there was no global warming, it would just be nice to spend your hard earned dollars on the most affordable mobile home out there. As I’ve said in other articles, I believe if there was no exclusionary zoning against living in a mobile home then you’d definitely be able to buy one without formaldehyde in it because there would be a market for a formaldehyde-free singlewide. But with exclusionary zoning you can’t buy any formaldehyde-free manufactured housing. Believe me I’ve looked for a formaldehyde-free singlewide as a replacement just in case something ever happens to my singlewide. If I could get a small formaldehyde-free singlewide for less than $30K I might even consider just turning my current singlewide into a garage/storage building or selling it to someone who’d tow it away. The homeowners association where I currently live has a 1,200 square foot minimum restriction for a site built home because I even thought about just getting rid of my singlewide and building a 20 ft x 20 ft site built home. It would be a lot easier to heat because I wouldn’t have to run a Honeywell fresh air heat recovery ventilator all of the time to get rid of formaldehyde gas that constantly builds up in my singlewide. My singlewide has particle board floors along with medium density fiberboard counters and cabinets. I know Johns Manville makes formaldehyde-free insulation and I doubt that I have formaldehyde-free insulation in my singlewide. I’ve made inquiries to manufactured housing companies about formaldehyde-free units and don’t even get replies.

I couldn’t afford a motor home but a used camper van might be a possibility. If I was living in New Jersey and lost my home then I’d definitely like to be able to bring in a travel trailer and just live in that. At least you could cook and heat with propane until the electricity came back on. If you read my article to Detroit about ending their exclusionary zoning then you can see how this would be an opportunity for Detroit to get current retirees living in the affected areas to perhaps move to Detroit where they don’t have hurricanes. It’s not too late Detroit. We know the bad weather is only going to continue and get worse in the coming years. New Orleans will get hit hard again too in spite of the work done there. A great deal of Florida will eventually be under water as the ocean level continues to rise. So to all of the people who didn’t get the global warming memo or thought global warming is only something that would affect future generations then hurricane Sandy has been a rude wake up call. You might want to consider both ending exclusionary zoning and moving to higher ground.