City official shoots down marketing plan of San Francisco man who lives in plywood box
Peter Berkowitz is comfortable living in a plywood box he constructed in a friend’s living room. And he especially likes the low rent—the $400 he pays is far less than the nearly $3,600 average monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco.
Last month, after his usual housing situation made international headlines, Berkowitz began hearing from others who were interested in living in a eight-foot-long box that’s wide enough to fit a twin mattress but not high enough to stand up in, according to Hoodline and the San Francisco Chronicle. That apparently gave him an idea.
In an email he sent to an unidentified area resident, Berkowitz, who makes a living as an illustrator, suggested that he could set up another “pod” free of charge in the man’s home, help him find long- or short-term tenants and take a cut of the profits, Hoodline reports. But it didn’t take long for a city official to rain on his parade, and Berkowitz now says he doesn’t intend to pursue the project.
“He wanted to know how he could make it legal,” chief housing inspector Rosemary Bosque told Hoodline, explaining that “fire safety realities” pose a significant problem concerning box housing. “He would have to completely open it up or look at something different, such as a bed with a frame, with curtains, something that was open to the room. This would be the case for anywhere in the country with respect to building and inhabitability codes.”
It isn’t clear from news coverage whether the city is pursuing any enforcement concerning the box in which Berkowitz himself reportedly lives.
Berkowitz gives a tour of his home in a YouTube video:
An earlier San Francisco Chronicle story provides more details.