While San Francisco is spending millions of dollars on RV parks for the homeless, young people looking to take a break from their careers can live in 4-foot-tall and 3.5-foot-wide “pod” spaces for $700 a month. It has become.
The city opened a “secure parking lot” at Candlestick Point in January 2022. He has 30 of his RVs parked there. The city requires him to maintain parking for $12,000 per month per car. According to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The facility, named Bayview Vehicle Triage Center, is recommended to be open for two more years, which would cost the city at least $12.2 million.
Despite having free rent and 24/7 security, some RV park residents don’t enjoy it.
“It’s like living in a prison,” Bayview resident Enrique Olivas said. “I’ve been here for a year now, and it’s been tough. There are a lot of rules, like you can’t park your truck indoors. I’ve had to park my truck on the street. I’ve already been broken into three times. So sometimes I sleep in the truck instead.”
Olivas, who lives in the triage center with her dog Swerve, added:
“They bring me food, but I can’t eat it because I don’t have teeth. My dog won’t eat either.”
Joyce Knighten, 85, owns a Double Rock convenience store less than a mile from the RV park. She said she understands that local people need help, but they should also be required to take jobs to maintain their status.
“What they need to do is clean it up and make it a nice environment for people to live in. They need to be citizens who get jobs, participate, and pay taxes just like the rest of us. It is.”
Two Bay Area nonprofits, Urban Alchemy and the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation, provide security and other support services to residents and are paid thousands of dollars each month from city coffers.
Security officials refused to let The Post into the park, but drone footage shows 30 rusted RVs currently parked in three rows.
Meanwhile, just nine miles away, budding young businessmen are no longer able to afford their own apartments and are instead renting pods in communal housing.
Christian Lewis pays $700 a month for his tiny home with 27 other people Pod space in a co-ed brownstone apartment building It’s near Union Square. A pod is less than half the size of an RV.
“The truth is, I can’t afford a $3,000 apartment, but some people still choose to live here, even if they sleep in pods. It’s all about cost and quality,” Lewis said. told the Post.
Each renter has access to a shared lounge area with twin mattresses, temperature control, bathroom and shower access, and a private meeting room.
Lewis said the space is “like a hacker incubator” and that the residents, many of whom are highly educated people, just need a space to take a break while working on various projects. Ta.
“We live in capsules and model them after Japanese houses,” Lewis told the Post. “There are people in this city fighting for affordable housing, but when you try to find something that actually makes that happen, you get criticized.”
The pod living conditions have drawn criticism on social and mainstream media, with some people referring to the steel or wooden bunk beds as “bunk beds.” “The Glorious Coffin House” It’s not the solution to San Francisco’s housing crisis.
Brownstone co-founder James Stallworth told the Post that renters, many of whom are students, researchers and entrepreneurs looking to break into the world of artificial intelligence, pay the city’s median rent. He said he couldn’t afford it.
“Some people think this is great, others think we’re doing something terrible…If you’re trying to live in an epicenter where people can network and start companies, housing This will be a huge barrier for.
“People will criticize anyone who is doing something about this issue, and that’s fine. What’s important is that residents have a good experience and that they’re getting what we’re trying to provide. only,” he said.
Meanwhile, Olivas said she has friends who don’t want to park their trailers in Bayview because of the rules. That’s why he’s asking the city to let him live elsewhere, either in his own apartment or in the city’s single-occupancy rooms.
“They try to provide you with housing, but it still takes a long time,” Olivas said. “Everything they promised we haven’t seen and it’s very frustrating. We need help.”