Things are so out of whack in San Francisco that tech workers are now renting $700 sleeping pods while the city government is outrageously paying thousands a month for homeless RVs.

(Video Credit: ABC7 News Bay Area)

Young tech workers cannot afford the exorbitant rent in San Francisco so they are paying for sleeping pods in private residences in order to live and work in the city.

At the co-ed Brownstone Shared Housing located near Union Square, 28 individuals are paying $700 a month for a tiny pod space that is less than half the space of a homeless RV. Each pod dweller gets a “twin mattress, temperature control, access to bathrooms and showers, and a common lounge area with a private meeting room.”

“I actually can’t afford to pay for a $3,000 apartment, but there are some people sleeping in the pods who can, but choose to live here anyway. It is about cost and quality,” pod dweller Christian Lewis told the New York Post.

He said the pods are “like a hacker incubator.” Many of those staying there are highly educated people who just need a place to sleep while they are working on their various projects. It is very reminiscent of communist China or overcrowded Japan.

Tech employees in San Francisco, CA are paying as much as $700 a month for tiny bed ‘sleeping pods’.

The tiny spaces only fit one twin bed, run on monthly contracts, and don’t need a deposit. pic.twitter.com/wiwEa8RlfK

— LifeandFortune (@LifeandFortune) October 10, 2023

“It’s living in a capsule and modeled after Japanese homes,” Lewis commented. “There are people fighting for affordable housing in this city, but when we actually try to find something that makes it work, we get criticized.”

Some people are calling the pods “glorified coffin homes according to the New York Post.” They definitely don’t see them as an answer to San Francisco’s housing crisis.

James Stallworth, who is the co-founder of Brownstone Shared Housing, told the media outlet in an interview that many of those renting pods are students, researchers, and entrepreneurs who are making breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence. They just can’t afford the high rent in the city.

“Some people think it’s great, others think we are doing something terrible … housing is such a huge barrier for people if you are trying to live in the epicenter where people can network and build their companies,” he remarked.

“People criticize anyone who is doing something about this issue, and that’s fine. All that matters is the residents are having a good experience and they are getting what we set out to provide,” Stallworth added.

Tech workers in San Francisco are renting $700/month sleeping pods because of the excruciatingly high rent in Silicon Valley pic.twitter.com/oH9wXFBRNf

— Pubity (@pubity) October 3, 2023

Six miles away, the City by the Bay is paying $12,000 per RV at a park for the homeless according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

In January 2022, San Francisco recently opened a “safe parking site” called the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center at Candlestick Point. It contains 30 very expensive, run-down RVs. Leaders want it left open for another two years with a hefty price tag of at least $12.2 million.

Not all of those living in the park like it even though it is rent-free with 24/7 security.

Two Bay Area nonprofits: Urban Alchemy and Bayview Hunters Point Foundation, provide security and other support services for the residents. They are paid thousands of dollars a month by the city according to the New York Post.

“It’s like living in a prison,” Bayview resident Enrique Olivas claimed. “I’ve been here for a year and it’s been difficult. There are so many rules, like I can’t park my truck inside. I’ve had to park my truck on the street. It’s already been broken into three times, so sometimes I sleep in my truck instead.”

San Francisco is paying $12,000 a month for homeless RVs while tech workers sleep in $700 ‘pods’ pic.twitter.com/06bhyRyqsn

— Pubity (@pubity) October 10, 2023

Olivas stays in the park with his dog Suave.

“You can’t have visitors, and if you have too much stuff, they take it away from you. They bring us food, but the food is not something I can really eat because I have no teeth. Even my dog won’t even eat it,” he asserted.

Olivas remarked that some of his friends don’t want to park their trailers at Bayview because of its lengthy list of rules. He’s trying to get the city to find him someplace else to live, either in his own apartment or one of the city’s Single-Resident Occupancy rooms.

“They try to get you housing, but even that takes a long time,” he commented. “Everything they have promised, we haven’t seen and it has been so frustrating. We need help.”

The park would not allow reporters, but the New York Post sent a drone over it and noted 30 rusty RVs parked in three rows.

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