That embattled $700-a-month sleeping pod complex has lost its City Hall approval, because the SF Planning Department says it doesn't comply with the city’s affordable housing rules, among other permit violations.    

We dusted off the “Apartment Sadness” tag in September 2023 when some startup proposed a $700-a-month “sleeping pod” complex at 12 Mint Plaza, where all you’d get for your monthly rent is one spot on a rack of enclosed bunk beds, a black curtain for privacy, and the promise of “community” among whatever other fresh-out-of-college founder bros also fell for the deal.

The proposal quickly drew the ire of the Department of Building Inspection (DBI), and the company behind it had a history with other projects elsewhere that just daisy-chained extension cords for power and lacked the requisite fire detectors. In SF, the DBI found that owners Brownstone Shared Housing had installed and started renting the pods without residential permits, illegally converted a toilet into a shower (!), and had the demonstrable fire code violation of needing a key to get out of the building. (!!!)

Brownstone apparently made the necessary changes, and got their city approvals in late October.  

The pod party would not last long. Today the Chronicle reports that the city approvals have been revoked on the pod housing complex. Ironically, the $700-a-month units ran afoul of the city’s affordable housing requirements.

Those requirements stipulate that any project with more than ten units has to set aside a certain percentage of units for low-income residents, or pay a $300,000 fee. The sleeping pods are too small to comply with what the city requires of an affordable housing “unit.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a bright-eyed Stanford graduate trying to disrupt the City’s housing market. Frankly, it could use a little disrupting,” Planning Department chief of staff Dan Sider told the Chronicle. “But we draw the line when anyone risks tenant safety, especially in a case where a builder decides to ask for forgiveness rather than permission and then fails to accept accountability.”

There is apparently also some sort of additional issue with the complex’s shower permits.

Brownstone CEO James Stallworth says he won’t pay the $300,000, and vows to appeal the decision. “We’re trying to create affordable housing and they don’t want it,” he said.

Brownstone could end up sidestepping the requirement if Mayor London Breed’s office-to-housing proposal becomes law, as that would effectively undo some of those affordable housing requirements. (The building had previously been a bank.) That proposal goes before the SF Planning Commission next week, though it would still need to pass the SF Board of Supervisors.

Related: Mint Plaza Sleeping Pod Complex Dinged With Violations After City Inspection [SFist]

Image via Brownstone