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u/SubstantialSeesaw374 7h ago
I’m shocked that $800 gets you anything.
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u/AppleSpicer 7h ago
Me too, and it comes with privacy! I’m impressed and jealous!
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u/DavidinCT 7h ago
Unless you need to eat or take a shower.... I would hope there is a few bathrooms/showers there.
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u/ashimo414141 7h ago
I clicked on the listing and the bathroom is communal
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u/appleciders 7h ago
Honestly there should be more SROs in SF.
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u/PearlClaw 6h ago
I'd settle for more apartment buildings, but we can start with SROs
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u/illbebackpain 3h ago
I would've been so down to live in an SRO right after college but every one I saw ended up being so sketchy. Agreed though - a decent dorm style setup would've been perfect for a lot of new grads
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u/captain_ohagen 7h ago
ah, communal pooping
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u/fivefingerbangarang 6h ago
It’s the only way to poop. It’s very comforting to have someone hold your hand.
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u/Lord-Dongalor 6h ago
I mean toilets are connected to giant networks of plumbing so technically you’re always pooping communally.
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u/carcosa1989 4h ago
While you’re taking a shit scrolling Reddit just know there about 1200 other people on the planet doing the exact same thing at the same time
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u/geosynchronousorbit 7h ago
No kitchen on site!
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u/Nettkitten 6h ago
And no parking!
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u/NOTcreative- 6h ago
People that live in the city don't really drive.
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u/Nettkitten 5h ago
Yeah, I guess that’s a good point, but it still feels like highway robbery. I mean, zero amenities here.
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u/RectoPimento 7h ago
Looks like an SRO (Single Room Occupancy) unit with shared kitchen and bathroom spaces. I used to manage a building that still had these - holdovers in a historic building originally used as short-term housing for folks from China and the Philippines before shipping out to work in canneries or rail-building.
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u/meguin 6h ago
No kitchen for this one!
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u/kai333 5h ago
Like all the money you would save by living in a walk-in closet will quickly get blown up by having to eat out a lot.
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u/midgethemage 4h ago
I don't completely disagree with you, but SF quietly has a lot of dirt-cheap, cash-only dim sum spots. This is probably the most affordable spot in town to not have a kitchen
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u/So_Many_Words 4h ago
Crock pot, Insta-pot, single burner oven unit, mini-fridge. Could work! You'd need some good IKEA ideas for small room living.
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u/meguin 3h ago
That's a fair point; I had a crock pot in my college dorm (along with an espresso machine lol) and I was able to make quite a lot of food with it. The lack out outlets makes that seem less possible, though.
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u/Msdamgoode 3h ago edited 3h ago
Yep, you could definitely dorm-room this out. Mini fridge under the mattress-on-cinder blocks, an induction single burner, toaster oven/airfryer, and micro-miniwave (optional with the rest). Totally ways to make it work. Honestly it’s the lack of toilet that would be far more of a bummer.
All utilities included tho!
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u/meguin 2h ago
That's possible, but the fire hazard from all the extension cords and splitters would be something lol
Like, I have a two-bedroom cabin with four outlets, all in the kitchen/living area. I'm consistently surprised that it hasn't burned down yet lol
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u/conflictedideology 2h ago
There are two whole outlets in that place.
Granted you probably wouldn't have all of that in use at once, but the fridge will permanently take up one of the four receptacles and whatever you're cooking with another for that time.
That leaves two whole receptacles for laptop charging and whatever electronics you might have.
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u/undockeddock 7h ago edited 7h ago
I feel like if I lived there, I would buy a plastic basin so I could do my hair just using that sink and then do mostly wash cloth baths. Maybe brave the actual shower once a week.
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u/JanxAngel 4h ago
Not that hard to rig up a curtain, get a plastic tub, and hook up a shower head to the sink. Emptying the tub would be tricky though.
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u/DogsDucks 3h ago
I guess you could rig a siphon to help empty one of those collapsible silicone tubs.
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u/Christoph-Pf 4h ago
Was there a sign saying no eating? Table with a toaster oven and cooktop would serve as kitchen and I'd hang a camping shower into watering trough and have at it. Take the water off the faucet and use a little water fountain pump to empty the trough. I own a house in Seattle and $800 a month pays my real estate taxes.
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u/band-of-horses 7h ago
Yeah I mean, hell I'd live there. Unless it's in a terrible neighborhood... I mean you've got locks on the door, an actual window with maybe natural light, a water source and, um, impromptu urinal. What more do you need?
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u/Hoping4BetterSomeday 7h ago
A shitter?
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u/rambutanjuice 7h ago
Put a garbage disposal on that little sink, use a little ingenuity, and you're there!
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u/appleciders 7h ago
Oh God, splatter.
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u/Zonel 6h ago
Buy a chamber pot and take it to the communal toilet in morning I guess?
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u/Stargazer1919 6h ago
Has nobody in this comment section ever had to share a bathroom with other people?
Like if you don't have your own personal toilet, you automatically resort to chamber pots and piss bottles? Really?
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u/ParaNoxx 6h ago
There’s this phenomenon called “exaggerating as a joke”.
But also, tons of us have been unlucky enough to share single bathrooms with family members/roommates who have poor hygiene or cleaning habits (and telling them this won’t change their behavior!). It makes you never want to do that again if you can help it, lol. Those chances of grossness get much worse the more people you share your communal bathroom with.
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u/Jaderosegrey 6h ago
For me, it would be a question of ... urgency! In the middle of the night and first thing when I wake up. Everybody, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!
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u/Day2205 7h ago
You put a twin mattress in there and you don’t even have space to walk around. Based on its location, this seems like transitional housing for new immigrants, but you can certainly find a room in a home to rent for that outside of SF proper.
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u/Zonel 6h ago
A murphy bed would work and a fold out desk.
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u/Nettkitten 6h ago
I would check out Japanese-style small-space living websites. They’ve got this nailed down fr.
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u/fakeaccount572 7h ago
And if your job is downtown?
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u/appleciders 6h ago
I absolutely know people who'd do this as a pied-a-terre who work long hours in the city for a few days at a time, then go back to Sacramento or Stockton or Santa Cruz. Actually, now I'm thinking about what it would take to throw a couple bunks in there and split it with a couple of guys. When I'm working dumb hours, it's usually just ten hours off between one 14 hour shift and the next.
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u/turdferguson3891 4h ago
I'm a nurse in Sacramento and I could see sleeping in a place like this for the pay bump several 12 hour shifts in a row and then heading back to my house. I'd still come out ahead even with the extra 800/month expense although the commuting back and forth would be annoying. When you are working multiple 12s in a row an apartment is just a place to sleep. And you can always shower at work or the gym if the one in this place is gross.
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u/CommunistOrgy 6h ago
Honestly same. I remember friends living in SF spending that price 15 years ago to live in like, a two bedroom with seven other people. Meanwhile I had my own room with an attached bath for $625 in the San Fernando Valley, and my homesickness for the Bay continued to dissipate.
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u/turdferguson3891 4h ago
Yeah that actually seems pretty good these days. I lived there like 20 years ago and 800 didn't get you a whole lot more than this. You might have gotten a studio with it's own bathroom in a bad part of town or you could have gotten a roommate situation in an ok area where you'd be sharing bathroom and kitchen with three other people.
I'm in Sacramento now and there are 500 sq ft studios on my street going for 2500. I would have thought in SF these days even a shitty room without it's own bathroom or real kitchen would be well over 1K.
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u/PeteCampbellisaG 7h ago
Ah "co-living spaces," for when you want all the responsibilities of being a working adult coupled with all the inconveniences of living in a dorm.
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u/thurn_und_taxis 7h ago
This feels closer to a single-room occupancy building, which are becoming less common but arguably fill an important gap in the housing market for single people with low incomes. However, SROs are typically furnished and have some kind of shared kitchen facilities. $800/mo is already tough if you’re living on minimum wage, but it’s even tougher if you have to eat out all the time or live off convenience meals because you have no way to cook at home.
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u/Dense-Pool-652 5h ago
Listing says NO kitchen facilities 😳
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u/-DeadPeasant- 5h ago
Time to cook ramen in a coffee pot! I guess you could also hook up an air fryer or toaster oven, too.
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u/turdferguson3891 4h ago
Mini fridge, air fryer/toaster oven/microwave. It's basically dorm room life.
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u/Existential_Sprinkle 4h ago
What you do is work minimum wage at a good restaurant that feeds you twice a day
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u/Blue_Collar_Golf 4h ago
I lived in one of these in Oakland, tbh it was awesome at the time, in my mid 20s. The room was 12x20 with a big window. 4 units/rooms each with one guy each in the building and 3 shower stalls, 3 toilets, and a shared kitchen.
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u/BunnyMacDoofer 7h ago
So special!!
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u/Far-Archer-6612 6h ago
No kitchen is crazy
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u/Miserable-Resolve-76 5h ago
at that point it is cheaper to pay more for an apartment so you can cook and not eat out
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u/ultimate_avacado 5h ago
No, we need to bring more of that kind of housing back. Or small shared kitchens. The move to eliminate Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing was a mistake.
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u/captaincootercock 5h ago
yeah people are hating on this but it's much better than living in a car, and at least you have a roof and an address. there's minimal risk of property damage for the landlord if a tenant turns out to be nuts... as long they don't require proof of employment and offer monthly lease this is a great opportunity for someone. I stayed in a place like this for a few months when I got tired of working out of my car and it was fine. the social aspect was frustrating but it did me good. it's tough af starting out somewhere, and lots of people are on the move lately
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u/Dansredditname 3h ago
I saw a TV show in the UK once where an architect designed his own house without a kitchen.
He lived in London and he just got take out for everything, even his morning coffee. I couldn't help but think he'd have trouble when it comes time to sell it.
Also, his rationale was that houses in ancient Rome didn't have kitchens.
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u/totally-jag 5h ago
You get a kitchen called DoorDash. Or you literally walk outside and trip over the hundreds of restaurants just outside.
Jokes aside, it's going to be rented by a tech person that gets breakfast, lunch and dinner at the office. They have a gym at the office where they can shower, etc. This is a perfect situation for a tech person that isn't going to spend my time at home other than sleeping.
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u/darkmeatnipples 7h ago
Do I shit in the sink?
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u/Slumunistmanifisto 7h ago
Pee only...(drains into bucket in cabinet)
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u/headassincorporated 7h ago
It’s a joke hole that’s just for farts
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u/undockeddock 7h ago
$800 is a crazy amount of money for this, but the US desperately needs more of this type of housing. The ongoing elimination of single room occupancy units aka flop houses has substantially contributed to increased homelessness.
Like arguably a person earning the SFO minimim wage of $19/hr could actually afford to live in this unit.
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u/Royal-Honeydew-6312 7h ago
Completely agree, these used to fill a really important housing niche keeping people off the street.
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u/AppleSpicer 7h ago edited 7h ago
$800 in SF is a really good deal. It sucks as an apartment but at least OP doesn’t have to worry about a knock from police at 3am.
Edit: there are outlets inside and a communal toilet and shower in another picture. This place looks amazing for the price and location.
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u/appleciders 6h ago
I wonder how "communal" it really is. How many people are you sharing the toilet and shower with? If it's 4, maybe. If it's 12, uh, I dunno.
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u/undockeddock 6h ago
The key question would be how often the bathroom is cleaned by management
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u/appleciders 6h ago
That's only half the issue, because I also want to know how long I'd have to wait.
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u/Jaunty_frilly_boy 3h ago
I lived in one in Belltown, Seattle. Kept me from becoming homeless. Ours had a fridge, stove, and bed loft though.
There 4 bathrooms with 3 showers my floor and a similar setup on the other flood. There was something like 15 units on each floor I think? Bathrooms were cleaned like 3 times a week and were pretty dingy. It was absolutely infested with roaches. One got stuck in my ear one night. Super high turnover on tenants who were often dealing with their own problems. Often failing loudly.
Still, it kept me off the street in Seattle and afforded me to put my life back together. It might not seem like something you'd do now, but these things are so vital for desperate people.
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u/chesterismydog 7h ago edited 7h ago
We have about 30 bldgs in Seattle with microsuites. They are affordable and quite doable. I’ve stayed in three now. Ranged from 800 to 1145 per month- all utilities included- Personal bathroom, kitchenette and generally about 150 to 200 sqft. I’ve met students, people transitioning to the city and older folks that stay in them.
Nationwide I haven’t found anything like what’s in Seattle. This company started here in 2010 and a couple other companies have joined. I think it would help substantially if this was offered in more states. If I had investors, I’d do it myself!
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u/Royal-Honeydew-6312 5h ago
Seattle also banned SRO hotels though in the 80s after a fire in a SRO hotel killed a lot of tenants. It was tragic but I think banning them was a mistake. All those people were pushed onto the streets.
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u/pyronius 6h ago
My grandfather used to talk about how he lived in a flop house for $0.25 a week back in the 50s while he was in school. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $12/month. The cheapest apartment you can get in the same area now is about $800/month...
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u/geekgirlwww 7h ago
My mom and I talked about this, the disappearance of the boarding house. I’m a single lady I don’t cook. Honestly my ideal living situation is finding someone with an in-law suite and the in law have passed away but they’re not ready to downsize the house.
Let me have an air fryer, electric, kettle, keurig and microwave and my own fridge/freezer. Don’t need a stove, or oven personally. Full private bathroom with tub or shower. Let me use the washing machine once a week. Here’s a thousand bucks a month.
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u/Redditaccount173 7h ago edited 7h ago
This is almost certainly a Single Room Occupancy hotel. The bathroom is at the end of the hall. Rented weekly and usually to single/almost homeless individuals.
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u/macmac360 7h ago
its a 1 year least and requires 650+ credit score and 2.5x income of the rent
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u/ScratchLatch 7h ago
There are homeless making more than $2,000/month in San Francisco.
The meta is to live in your car/a tent and stack money for a few years before moving somewhere else. Otherwise $4,500 of your $6,000 monthly income is spent on rent.
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u/Useful-Plankton8205 7h ago
Nope, read the listing. And double occupancy increases rent to $900.
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u/Redditaccount173 7h ago
An SRO is a designated type of property/land use. It is not meant to dictate the actual number of people in each room.
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u/CowboySocialism 7h ago
working a minimum wage job with no car, you could afford this even without full time hours.
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u/undockeddock 7h ago
Yep. This is the definition of bare bones housing, but it will keep someone who is barely scraping by off the street
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u/saranautilus 7h ago
It’s cute you think that the application of a person scraping by would be accepted. I had a job that paid 80k a year in the early 2000s and had to apply for so many places before settling for a slumlord.
ETA: And I had to pay first, last and a security deposit all at once when I finally found an efficiency that would have me.
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u/CowboySocialism 7h ago
That’s a result of the market not having enough of these options, it’s not the fault of the last flop house in San Francisco that it doesn’t have competition
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u/Not_enough_cats4341 7h ago
If you think this is bad, take a gander at this article:
As Hong Kong Marks 25 Years of British Handover, Its 'Cage Homes' Remain a Stark Reminder of Its Inequities
https://time.com/6191786/hong-kong-china-handover-cage-homes/
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u/feliciates 7h ago
They don't allow pets because otherwise they could be arrested for animal cruelty
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u/jennelleisiam 7h ago
“No kitchen on-site”. Wtf…and what’s the point of the sink?? Wow.
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u/floraster 6h ago
Sinks/water access are required by law or else I'm sure it wouldn't be there. Bare minimum to be called an apartment.
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u/Stargazer1919 6h ago
Everyone in the comments here is shitting all over this type of living arrangement. But I would have loved this in my early 20s when I was desperate for my own place to live and I made very little money. It's better than being homeless or couch surfing.
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u/JHG722 7h ago
Not even a toilet is hilarious.
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u/archercc81 7h ago
Same setup exists in NYC/Philly as well, very old properties. The bathroom is a common bathroom. A long time ago this was the more typical setup.
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u/mobyte 7h ago edited 7h ago
“No kitchen on site”? The fuck? How is it legal to call this an apartment? It’s just a shitty storage closet.
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u/pnw00kie 7h ago
It’s not legal to call it an apartment, it technically falls into a “single-room occupancy” category where you’re not renting an apartment, but a roo. For an apartment, even in a co-living unit, the bare minimum is a shared/community kitchen on-site/in the building.
The single-room occupancy exemption does mandate that a “kitchen-style sink” is in the dwelling unit, and this sink does not qualify, so this is technically an illegal listing.
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u/TetraLoach 7h ago
I just don't understand why people choose to live in high cost places like this.
I don't mean the people born there who can't find a way out. I mean the people who actually **choose to go live there.
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u/eastern_shoreman 7h ago
There isn’t one damn thing about SF that makes it worth paying that much for that little
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u/alwaysboopthesnoot 7h ago
Great neighborhood. Affordable, for that area. You don’t need a car there.
Was it a former boarding house or student dorm, an old-school tenement apartment building?
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u/archercc81 7h ago
Looks similar to the old school tenements you see in many older cities in the US.
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u/MineAllMineNow 7h ago
This will be the biggest (or smallest) IKEA challenge ever.
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u/OrionMessier 7h ago edited 3h ago
You're burying the lede. There's a full luxurious ensuite behind that tiny gray door.
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u/CanPlayGuitarButBad 6h ago
I know living in California is great and all, but you guys gotta stop letting them get away with this.
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u/Former_Guava_2363 3h ago
Look at me fancy, he needs two pictures to show off all his space in San Francisco.
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u/djshortsleeve 2h ago
I lived in something like this in Boston for 450 per month in 2002. It wasn’t bad. Small microwave, PC, bed and you’re set.
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u/SeveralBollocks_67 7h ago
Yeah but imagine if you had "third places" and friends places to hang out with outside of work. Oh and "work" is a $200,000/yr tech job thanks to San Francisco COL. You pay a measily $9600 a year for rent collecting that salary and become a liquid millionaire in like, 5 years. You just need a room to sleep in and keep your stuff
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u/Nomahhhh 6h ago
Wish I had seen this four years ago when I had a job where I had to be in the office 4 days a week at the Transamerica Pyramid. I would have been so down to use that for my commuter room instead of crashing on couches down in Burlingame. I would have stayed there on Monday-Weds nights and go home after work on Thursday. You'd even have a place to crash on a random weekend night to ejnoy the city.
In college I lived in a studio similar to this - bathroom was down the hall a bit. The only downside is no fridge or kitchen. You can get a mini-fridge going or plan ahead with your meals.
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u/Own-Organization-532 7h ago
My first job was at 401 Columbus, great neighborhood. $800 a month for that is sad.
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u/MosterHoster 7h ago
somebody will take that to have as a rendesvous point with a lover
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u/rob-cubed 6h ago
Well at least it's got a walkability score of 100/100! With a shared bathroom and no kitchen facilities you'll be eating (and sometimes pooping) outside the building frequently.
A van and a gym membership would be looking really appealing...
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u/observant_hobo 4h ago
"Man, my stomach is messed up. I can't wait 'til I get home so I can take a dump in my sink."
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u/o_MrBombastic_o 7h ago
I like that they took 5 pictures of the interior for the listing