Sky-rocketing housing costs in San Francisco have driven one man to box up his life – literally.
Peter Berkowitz, an illustrator by trade, recently moved into an 8 by 4.5 foot crate stationed in his friends’ living room in the California city.
Berkowitz decided to think out of (or is it inside?) the box when his attempts to find an affordable apartment failed. The median rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is US$3,670.
Berkowitz built the pod for $1,300, and pays friends $400 a month to keep it in their living room.
“People are typically surprised that I would want to live in a pod, but I think they tend to underestimate how pleasant a pod can be if it’s designed smartly,” he wrote on his webpage.
“It’s the coziest bedroom I’ve ever had.”
The pod, which is slightly wider than a bookshelf and just longer than the standard mattress, contains a twin bed, a foldable desk and storage compartments.
It only stands 4.5 feet tall – he has to duck to get inside.
There is a window, and a portable fan provides ventilation and air circulation. Amenities are included in his rent.
Though rental prices are high, Berkowitz’s decision to live in a pod wasn’t fueled by poverty, but is rather a commentary on the city’s housing problem.
“Yes, living in a pod is silly,” Berkowitz wrote. “But the silliness is endemic to San Francisco’s absurdly high housing prices.”
San Francisco is the seventh least affordable metropolitan place to live, according to a Jan., 2-16 report from Demographia. Vancouver ranked higher, in third place; it’s only cheaper than Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia.
READ MORE: Vancouver third least affordable housing market in the world, San Fran at 7th
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