San Francisco’s $700-a-month ‘sleeping pods’ face crackdown from city inspectors: report
A San Francisco facility that has grabbed headlines for charging tech workers $700 a month for “sleeping pods” is facing a crackdown from city building inspectors, according to a report.
City officials have given Brownstone Shared Housing about a month to file permits after the company installed 28 bunk-bed style, 4-by-3.5-feet sleeping pods on the second floor of a building that was zoned for commercial rather than residential use, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection also found that the developer illegally converted a toilet into a shower at the building at 12 Mint Plaza, according to a report.
James Stallworth, the CEO of Brownstone, told SFGATE that he thinks he can persuade the city to allow the pods to remain in place.
“I was able to look into the case online, and it looks like it will require a simple discussion with the Buildings Department about our beds to confirm that we didn’t conduct any sort of construction work to install them,” Stallworth told SFGATE on Wednesday.
“Our beds are assembled much like IKEA furniture, and are moveable.”
The company rents the pods out to tech startup founders and other industry workers who cannot afford exorbitant rental prices that have made the San Francisco Bay Area one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country.
The Mint Plaza location in the SoMa section of San Francisco is an attractive alternative for those not willing or able to shell out $3,400 a month for one-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood.
The company posted a video on TikTok showing Stallworth and co-founder Christina Lennox assembling a pod.
The pods gained renewed attention earlier this week thanks to a viral social media post from Christian Lewis, an Illinois native who moved to the Bay Area to grow his artificial intelligence company.
Lewis shared images of his living quarters — a cramped pod located at 12 Mint Plaza, where he and other tech dreamers share common spaces and a bathroom.
“The pod is the size of a twin bed,” he told the local TV station. “So it’s not very large but it gets the job done. You just need a place to sleep.”
“I actually pushed off coming to San Francisco for a really long time but it has been absolutely net positive without a doubt,” Lewis told KGO-TV.
“Just for the first couple of days, I met some of the smartest people I’ve met in my entire life. That’s the reason I came and that’s the reason why I’m staying.”
“That’s the reason why I’m living in a pod.”
A recent report by Zillow found that rents have been falling in San Francisco, a city that has been beset by rising crime and an exodus of companies.
