With dramatic rent price hikes in just about all major cities, people are looking for cheaper alternatives. Now, for about $800 per month, residents can opt to sleep in a pod. Brownstone, a recent Los Angeles-based startup is matching prospective renters to their new “pods.”
Brownstone’s concept involves buying single-family homes, usually with two or three bedrooms. They then build sleeping quarters which generally consist of a cubicle-style arrangement that can sleep over a dozen people.
The company’s website advertises a “fully equipped” area with shelves, electrical outlets, and places to hang clothes. They also bill the sleeping arrangement as “40% more space than bunk beds” and “infinitely more private”, the latter referring to the fact that the opening of the sleeping area has a curtain.
ABC7 of San Francisco recently dove into this phenomenon. Their segment showed a three-bedroom house that was fitted with 14 pods. The house has the amenities that a typical three-bedroom house would be expected to have but is shared by 14 residents.
Rent in many major cities seems to be fueling the demand for alternative housing arrangements such as Brownstone’s pods. The San Francisco Bay Area is no exception and may be one of the worst when it comes to the cost of living. According to the article, “the rent for a three-bedroom, two-bath house like this in Palo Alto could easily run from $6,000 to $8,000”.
For those who want the experience of living in a high-rent market like that of Silicon Valley but can’t afford to live in a traditional house or apartment, “pod life” may be the only viable alternative.
Rent prices in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco are among the highest in the nation. Many people who live in America’s largest cities cannot afford to live on their own, even if they hold high-level professional positions. “On the list of most expensive one-bedroom rentals, San Francisco is second at $2,850 a month — only New York surpassed that cost. San Jose is fourth at $2,390 a month and Oakland is eighth at $2,100 a month”, reported ABC7.
