TThe basic idea behind the creation of Brownstone Shared Housing—a young startup that describes itself as a “short-term solution for students or people with temporary jobs”—is neither novel nor awe-inspiring. “Pod living” and renting out dorm-style rooms has become a financial treat across the Bay Area over the past decade.
In 2015, it was not uncommon to see apartments no bigger than a walk-in closet renting for over $1,100 a month on Craigslist. By comparison, this was also the time when narrow corridors for community housing (more reminiscent of prison cells than actual spaces for comfortable living) were popping up all over the Bay Area.
To this day, the idea of renting bunk beds valued at over $1,200 to people desperately seeking realistically affordable housing remains a depressing reality.
(Mind you, most financial experts still agree that you should spend no more than 30% of your take-home pay on housing, which allows for a healthy buffer for various bills, various debts, groceries, retirement, and occasional unnecessary expenses. As of 2024, the average earner in San Francisco will make about $74,000 a year before taxes. After deducting these federal, state, and local expenses, that leaves about $4,200 a month—of which just over $1,300 can be responsibly spent on housing, according to the financial model mentioned earlier.)
Brownstone Shared Housing’s South Bay home now sleeps 20 people — six more than it said it would in 2022, thanks to more pods — in a home with just two bathrooms and a single kitchen, which isn’t innovative. It remains a dangerous normalization of the current housing crisis; it’s a newfound, shared idea that’s also set to open a location in San Francisco in the future.
