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She tried to sublease this SF shed for $800. Then she was told her 'studio' is illegal.


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2018 Dec 5, 5:52pm   1,769 views  9 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

https://m.sfgate.com/realestate/article/SF-studio-apartment-for-800-rent-appears-to-be-13444710.php

The apartment is not your traditional apartment building unit, but rather a free-standing, one-room backyard shack like those used to store shovels, rakes and lawn mowers. In fact, it resembles those Tuff Sheds they sell at Home Depot and similar stores. ...

The apartment is not your traditional apartment building unit, but rather a free-standing, one-room backyard shack like those used to store shovels, rakes and lawn mowers. In fact, it resembles those Tuff Sheds they sell at Home Depot and similar stores.

But it was affordable for San Francisco State University student Vanessa Moreno.

Of course, with cheap rent comes lowered expectations.

For $800 a month, one can't expect a well-appointed kitchen. Or in Moreno's case, any kitchen.

"I had to cook outside on a burner (plate) and use a convection oven I plugged into the wall inside the studio and extended to outside since I wasn't allowed to cook inside," says Moreno.


At least there was indoor plumbing — a sink, running water and a toilet. But anyone using the toilet with a guest present would have had an audience.

Moreno supplied her own curtain.

"It is to separate the toilet and sink from the rest of the room so water doesn't splash," she says.

The water wouldn't have had far to travel to douse her bed or clothes.

"My belongings were kept inside and the space was very crammed," she says.

She also had to put in the vinyl flooring herself. When she moved in, the flooring was just bare concrete.

Comments 1 - 9 of 9        Search these comments

1   epitaph   2018 Dec 5, 5:56pm  

Liberal cities always offer the highest quality of living for the most reasonable prices.
2   Evan F.   2018 Dec 5, 6:00pm  

Damn. That's comically awful. I'm actually building a shed like that in my backyard, but only running power and CAT 6e. Most jurisdictions here in LA will let you build a shed up to 120 sq ft without a permit, as long as there's no plumbing. Gonna use it for a studio/gaming room.
3   Patrick   2018 Dec 5, 6:52pm  

I actually think this should be allowed if someone is willing to live in it. Better than homelessness.

The real problem is not people offering substandard places for rent, but the NIMBY demands that all California localities be able to prevent new housing from being built. Cities and towns should not have the ability to shut out new housing, ever.
4   HeadSet   2018 Dec 5, 7:15pm  

Cities and towns should not have the ability to shut out new housing, ever.

Careful of what you ask for. Some municipalities have been hit with communities where someone sticks 10 trailers on a sub-acre lot. Such abodes generate little property taxes but supply lots of children to the local schools.
5   ForcedTQ   2018 Dec 5, 7:53pm  

HeadSet says
Cities and towns should not have the ability to shut out new housing, ever.

Careful of what you ask for. Some municipalities have been hit with communities where someone sticks 10 trailers on a sub-acre lot. Such abodes generate little property taxes but supply lots of children to the local schools.


And that is why tying education funding to property taxes is doing a dis-service to the taxpayer. But what you speak of is more directly attended to with zoning of parcels, which to Patrick's credit is a form of property control if the allowed use of a parcel is changed AFTER the lot is purchased AND is APPLICABLE to that owner.

The only metrics that should limit home building in an area are: utilities that will not be provided for completely and in whole by the property owner, traffic way access adjacent to the property that may necessitate improvements to maintain acceptable traffic flow. For instance, if a community does not have enough water in their aquifer/resivior/transfer allotment to support new consumption demands on the system, why should the existing members of the community not be allowed to speak up for themselves as to the shortfall that would occur should more consumption to the system be added?
6   curious2   2018 Dec 5, 8:03pm  

Patrick says
Cities and towns should....


The State of California should address the problem of NIMBY cities by saying any jurisdiction that gets transit $ (for example) must also allow any housing that meets appropriate safety and quality standards. Certain cities (e.g. SF) should be designated as regional hubs for transit and housing.

Atherton zoning isn't the problem here. SFSU students would have difficulty commuting to and from Atherton anyway.

The problem is the regional hubs (especially SF) are restricting construction and driving everyone farther afield, thus causing problems elsewhere.
7   Ceffer   2018 Dec 5, 11:09pm  

This isn't an apartment, it's a squat.
8   clambo   2018 Dec 6, 5:14am  

A few years ago my friend (Santa Cruz, CA) bought one of those aluminum storage sheds and put it in his back yard on top of a few wooden pallets.

A guy rented it from him for $300/month. He cut out some holes and installed some salvaged windows and he insulated it and put sheet rock inside and added carpet to the floor.

My friend just ran an extension cord out to it so the guy had some lights and a TV in there.
9   HeadSet   2018 Dec 6, 6:43am  

clambo says
A few years ago my friend (Santa Cruz, CA) bought one of those aluminum storage sheds and put it in his back yard on top of a few wooden pallets.

A guy rented it from him for $300/month. He cut out some holes and installed some salvaged windows and he insulated it and put sheet rock inside and added carpet to the floor.

My friend just ran an extension cord out to it so the guy had some lights and a TV in there.


So Santa Cruz is becoming like a Rio de Janeiro hillside slum? I guess the tenant comes into the main house for bath and cooking.

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