Subscribe today and have the latest stories from Mission Local delivered directly to your inbox.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Faced with what he called a “housing affordability crisis,” Supervisor Scott Wiener proposed 220-square-foot apartments, the size of a parking space, which will run for up to $1,800 per month.
This week Mission Local reporter Courtney Quirin walked down 24th Street and asked Missionites what they thought about these new “micro-apartments.”
Courtney Quirin is a trained wildlife ecologist turned environmental journalist with a knack for photography and visual storytelling. Though her interests span many topics and disciplines, she's particularly keen on capturing multimedia stories pertaining to the global wildlife trade, human-wildlife relationships, food security, international development and the effects of global markets on local environments and cultural fabric. Courtney completed a MSc in Wildlife Management at the University of Otago, New Zealand, where she not only learned how to catch and tag fur seals (among many things) but also traveled to the highlands of Ethiopia to identify the nature and extent of farmer-primate conflict and its linkages to changes in political regime, land tenure, food security, and perceptions of risk. From New Zealand Courtney landed at The Ohio State University to investigate urban coyotes for her PhD, but just shy of 2 years deep into the degree, she realized that her true passions lie within investigative journalism. Since moving into the world of journalism, Courtney has been a contributor to Bay Nature Magazine, a ghostwriter for WildAid, and the science writer for Academia.edu. While at Berkeley's J-School Courtney will focus on international environmental reporting through the lens of documentary filmmaking and TV.
More by Courtney Quirin6 Comments
When our nation’s heroes fallen on hard times live in them they are called SRO’s. When kids working 65 hour weeks live in them they are called micro-apartments. Same-Same but different.
Except that SRO’s are bug-infested dumps that should be demolished.
These micro-units will be new, clean, bright, up to code and perfectly sufficient for someone who is working 60-80 hours a week anyway.
While everyone who lives in one isn’t competing with and outbidding you for that flat-share or studio in the Mission.
I converted a shipping container and live in that (it’s also mobile). You can definitely live in a small space, but the thoughtfulness that must go into designing/building it is high. And you definitely don’t spend your time “living” in there. You sleep there, it offers a private retreat (hopefully it’s quiet), and you can get ready for the day. That’s about it.
Anthony, I would like to know more about your shipping container house. Drop me a line at alexander.mullaney@missionlocal.org.
Twitter apartments may be an inevitable compromise,. A space the size of single car garage is too small to invite friends too. One effect is that they will move the slider to people doing more socializing and entertaining to shared spaces outside of the domicile, because it is impossible within their own space.
Its is a shame that Wiener is also pushing legislation criminalize usage of park space in alternative hours, ensuring that less shared social space is available when it is needed more. Other shared spaces through the Rec and Park are now privatized, locked and only available for rental, which is the wrong policy in an era high density twitter spaces
In Manhattan, it’s rare to be invited to someone’s home for dinner because people quite simply do not have the space and often feel self-conscious about the small space they live in.
Even more so in Hong Kong which has long had homes of this size.
One result is that both cities are great for eating out. So more micro units in SF could be good for the hospitality trade.