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(CNN) Housing costs have become so expensive in some cities that people are renting bunk beds in a communal home for $1,200 a month. Not a bedroom. A bed.
PodShare is trying to help make up for the shortage of affordable housing in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles by renting dormitory-style lodging and providing tenants a co-living experience.
A PodShare membership allows you to snag any of the 220 beds — or pods — at six locations across Los Angeles and one in San Francisco. There’s no deposit and no commitment. You get a bed, a locker, access to wifi and the chance to meet fellow “pod-estrians.” Each pod includes a shelf and a personal television. Food staples, like cereal and ramen, and toiletries like toothpaste and toilet paper, are also included.
But that’s an easy trade-off, say the mostly young people who live there.
Stephen T. Johnson, the 27-year-old founder of FlipMass, an advertising company for Instagram influencers, says he can afford his own place in San Francisco, but doesn’t want to be locked into renting a tiny, overpriced apartment.
“I had a micro studio that was $1,750 per month,” says Johnson. “It was less than 200 square feet. This is actually a luxury and costs less than the place that I lived a couple blocks down the street.”
He’s been living at PodShare for five months, and using it as a live/work space.
“I think anyone that’s staying in arrangements like this is just early to a new form of housing,” Johnson says. “There’s so many different living arrangements and I think this will just be one of the available options to everyone in the future.”
