How pricey is rent in liberal San Fran? Young professionals are moving into SHIPPING CONTAINERS

by McGuire | October 19, 2015 1:38 pm

Rent is so extortionately high in San Fran that young professionals have been forced to think outside, or rather inside, the box when it comes to their living arrangements. This is just outrageous:[1]

container house[2]

Residents looking to avoid crippling costs of city living, have flocked to Oakland where a bizarre shipping container village is growing.

For just $600 a month, residents of Containercopia get a 160-square-foot metal box, which can be modified to include glass window, electricity and its own bathroom.

It might not be luxurious but it’s a bargain compared to the average rents in the city which have soared by 20 per cent in the last year to surpass even those in Manhattan.

For Luke Iseman and Heather Stewart, the cost of renting just didn’t add up.

Fed up with spending most of their income on rent, they bought a $2,300 shipping container from the nearby Port of Oakland, rented a half-acre of land and moved in, reported the New York Times

It still wasn’t cheap. They needed to spend around $12,000 turning the empty metal box into a home.

While it is still basic – the toilet consists of a composting bucket – the homes offer a surprising amount for such a tiny space.

Iseman’s box boasts a custom-built shower, queen-size bed and glass windows while the solar panels allow him to power an adapted freezer. A giant roof top dish also gives him internet.

‘It’s pretty much my dream, post-apocalyptic, cyber punk set up,’ said Iseman, 32, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and works in technology.

He added that the shipping containers were actually more suited for homes than expected – as they were built to withstand long trips at sea in all weather.

‘You have a watertight box that is way more structurally sound that you can possibly need. They have been stacked in hurricanes, in terms of a house they are way overkill.’

The former couple began buying more shipping containers to offer up as cheap rentals.

Together with a group of friends, they bought an abandoned lot for $425,000 as a haven for young professionals looking for an affordable way to live in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.

Unfortunately, Containercopia was not zoned for residential occupiers so when a neighbor complained last Spring, Iseman and Stewart were forced to move the containers into a warehouse.

The lot is currently being used to grow vegetables for the ‘village’.

Uhm….all I have to say is what the hell, Obama? Nice job on the economy. Our young adults are living in boxes. Bravo.

Written by Katie McGuire[3]. Send your hate mail to the author at katiefmcguire@gmail.com, or feel free to mean tweet me at @GOPKatie[4], where I will be sure to do very little about it.

Endnotes:
  1. This is just outrageous:: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3277963/The-600-month-shipping-container-village-young-professionals-getting-creative-avoid-staggering-rents-San-Francisco.html
  2. [Image]: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/container-house.jpg
  3. Katie McGuire: https://www.facebook.com/GOPKatie
  4. GOPKatie: http://twitter.com/GOPKatie

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