Pumping Pahrump -- the affordable 'Wild West'

From Owen McShane's CRMS Newsletter:

Rules and Regulations.
Houston is famous for being the only major city in the US with no zoning or other planning regulations. It is equally famous for having one of the world's most affordable housing markets. The Demographia survey rated it with an affordability index of only 2.7. (Auckland is around 6).
If you get to Atlanta [for the "Preserving the American Dream" conference] you might find it worth while visiting Houston to see for yourself.

However, you should be equally keen to visit the famous city of Pahrump. You may have never heard of it but we should all be intrigued by this Nevada city –- one hour's drive from Las Vegas.

Pahrump not only has no planning codes or zoning – it has no building codes either! That's right - you don't need a building permit to build your dream home in Pahrump.

You might think people would shun such a "wild west" city like the plague. Funny that. Pahrump has been growing at 15% a year for the last seven years. The Nevada State average is only 3.8%. People love being able to buy land at only $20,000 a lot, and to build more cheaply too. This looks like a city to watch.

[How does it all work?] Much like the boat building industry in New Zealand, I suspect. There is much to learn from the leaky boat syndrome isn't there?

LINKS: Pahrump - Wikipedia
Centre for Resource Management Studies website
In defense of property rights -- Warren Ross & J. Brian Philips, Capitalism Magazine [Part 1 of a six-part series written during one of the many campaigns to overturn Houston's relatively laissez-faire urban design record. "It addresses the political philosophy underlying zoning as well as the specific arguments made by the pro-zoning advocates in Houston."]
"Preserving the American Dream" conference - Randal O'Toole's American Dream Coalition

RELATED: Urban_Design, Building