Tiny home rules in Kern County, CA — covering tiny houses on wheels (THOWs), park model RVs, and tiny home on foundation builds — determine where they are legal and how they get permitted.
Kern County has no tiny-home-specific ordinance: a tiny house built on a permanent foundation can be permitted as an accessory dwelling unit under Zoning Ordinance Chapter 19.90 (implementing Government Code Sections 66310-66342), but a tiny house on wheels is classified as a recreational vehicle and cannot serve as a permanent dwelling in unincorporated areas. Temporary RV occupancy requires a conditional use permit and is limited to vacant lots of at least 20 acres in select districts.
Under Kern County Zoning Ordinance Section 19.04.612, a recreational vehicle is a motorhome, slide-in camper, travel trailer, truck camper, or camping trailer designed for human habitation for recreational or emergency use -- the category that captures tiny houses on wheels. Section 19.08.380 allows temporary occupancy of one motor home or travel trailer only on a lot of at least 20 acres in an A, A-1, E, NR, or RF district, only if no dwellings or other buildings exist on the lot, only if the property owner's primary residence is 30 or more miles away, only if occupied exclusively by the property owners, and only with a conditional use permit issued under Chapter 19.104. Separately, district regulations such as Section 19.14.130(D) permit a mobilehome or recreational vehicle as a temporary dwelling during construction of a single-family home, subject to a 6-month limit (one 6-month extension possible) and removal or dead storage once the home is approved for occupancy. For tiny homes on permanent foundations, Chapter 19.90 provides the pathway: ADUs and junior ADUs are allowed in any zone district that allows residential uses, consistent with Government Code Sections 66310 through 66342, and Section 19.90.040 requires an application approved by the Planning Director before any building permit is issued.
Occupying a tiny house on wheels as a dwelling without the required conditional use permit, or keeping a temporary construction-period RV beyond the 6-month limit (plus any approved extension), violates the Zoning Ordinance; the unit must be removed or placed in dead storage and the property is subject to code-compliance enforcement.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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