Reflecting on my first “tiny home” in San Francisco is a multi-dimensional exercise, one rooted in gratitude, reality, and nostalgia.

I’ve long been a fan of tiny living. Establishing a more micro everyday lifestyle has long seemed the most pragmatic and realistic way of making a financially solvent career as a writer, sans roommates. But even in San Francisco — which still boasts the one of country’s most expensive rental markets despite seeing rental prices drop some 26% since the pandemic began — even living tiny has a lofty price tag.

Before Covid-19, it was common to see $2,000-plus monthly rents for units spanning less than 200 square feet. A 161-square-foot unit a block away from my past address had become famous in 2019 for its astronomically high $2,295 a month rent. It featured a wedge-shaped closet, nothing resembling a kitchen, antiquated cabinets, and a shared in-hall bathroom.

However, when that apartment began making rounds on social media for its comic absurdity, I remember earnestly thinking to myself I… I actually could make that work and kind of like it. Except it was well out of my budget.

Fast-forward some months one global pandemic later, and I typed this very article in a unit with identical square footage  — my former home, which was my first solo apartment in San Francisco. (It also had an updated kitchenette, a normal rectangular closet, fresh coats of paint, better hardwood flooring, and crown molding.)

My rent at that time? A paltry $1,050 a month with two months free and no deposit down.

It was my lease, under just my name. For a rent-controlled unit. Two things I never thought I’d be able to have (and probably would never have, had it not been for the pandemic) in San Francisco. And even though I’ve since moved to a studio apartment in Nob Hill — a serendipitous find that I, somehow, managed to acquire for $1,250 a month — it was this first apartment to myself in SF; it will always hold a special place in my heart.

That apartment I once live in is described as a comparatively large SRO unit which, per the property management company, boasts “modern amenities and luxury touches.” (For context: My building, the now Saratoga Hotel constructed in 1908, is a historic San Francisco property and consists of eight SRO units, among 50 other more traditional one-bedroom and studio units, spread across four floors.)

These SROs are relics of depression-area housing stock in which units share either a bathroom or kitchen or both; in my case, I shared 1.5 baths with two neighbors who’ve each been in the building for over 20 years. And because many San Francisco properties that feature SRO units have certain grandfathered-in maintenance clauses, the restrooms were cleaned by janitorial staff twice a day — which, frankly, was more often than I cleaned any bathroom in my life.

Much like ’90s fashion and nostalgia-drenched sitcoms, SROs and other mico-style apartments are enjoying a recent boom in popularity. Millennials and Gen Xers are learning to live with less, and housing prices are still through the roof.

So while it’s near as much impossible for many current thirty- and fortysomethings to envision themselves either owning Bay Area property or living in a 700-square-foot-plus apartment without housemates, urban tiny living at least brings some semblance of reality back into the picture.

That… and living small is more fiscally sound and environmentally sustainable. Living in such a condensed, purposeful way also helps one keep things tidy; in many anecdotal cases, those who’ve “gone small” have reported improved mental health and traded excess chores for more free time.

(For context: I carried those same habits; that same mindset; these environmentally-sustainable practices to my new residence, which measures just shy of 300 square feet. I can’t fathom moving someplace larger, surrendering those previously mentioned upsides for the sake of having a larger kitchen counter.)

Before moving into that SRO in Lower Nob Hill, I briefly lived in an all too familiar Bay Area setup: a cell-like room inside a 1,700-square-foot, four-bedroom, 1.5-bath house in Noe Valley for $1,350 that I wasn’t the master tenant of. I dedicated substantial brackets of time each week to helping my housemates clean the common areas; disinfect and scrub the bathroom; water the patio plants after sweeping the patio itself; vacuum the hallway; and dust off the shelves and wood banisters. At some point during the week, I would eventually get to tidying up my 100-square-foot room — which, comparatively, took no time at all.

About 163.7 square feet, my previous SRO removed 90% of those household chores. There was also no need to purchase any bathroom cleaning supplies, as well.

Living in such a small space did come with certain adjustments and acclimations, mind you.

As someone who’s doted over tiny houses and stayed in some overnight, I can assure you it’s still quite jarring to walk into an empty sub-200-square-foot home and realize you must get your entire life inside of it. Unlike even the smallest of traditional city studio apartments, you have to boundary and give multipurpose to all your living areas — all while taking into account each square inch of space.

You quickly realize retractable measurement tapes become secondary appendages. That Murphy beds are a godsend. That a quality bistro table set on casters can double as a mobile meal preparation and dining area. That at just an inch thick, Samsung’s Frame TVs are, in fact, worth every fucking penny. That vertical storage is your best friend — and horizontal clutter is your gravest foe.

Almost three years ago, I wrote in my journal I wanted to have a tiny home all to myself by the time I was 35 years old. And while I couldn’t exactly wheel that second-floor SRO around to National Parks, I had (in a roundabout way) achieved that goal before my 30th birthday.

Or as my mother affectionately said when I signed the lease: “You got your own tiny house—it’s just in a building.”

Feature Image: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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• Charlie Walker, Product Manager at Yelp, relocated from San Francisco to Tonasket, Washington.
• He had been working remotely for almost a year. After he moved with his wife, Yelp went completely remote.
• They were able to buy a house – and their mortgage payments are half their rent.

This essay is based on a conversation with Charlie Walker, a 35-year-old product manager at Yelp. Insider has checked his employment, rent and mortgage payments. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I’ve been working as a product manager for Yelp since November 2019. I create functions for millions of small business owners.

I had moved to San Francisco from New York because my wife went to college to study nursing. My drive to the Yelp office downtown would take me about 45 minutes.

We lived in the Sunset area of ​​San Francisco in a 500-square-foot apartment with a roommate and our rather large dog.

We liked our roommate, but being able to live alone, especially as a married couple, was really desirable. We just couldn’t afford it in San Francisco.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I started working from my apartment. Trying to share a workspace with the others was a challenge.

After almost a year of teleworking, we moved to a small and rural place

My wife finished school and then got a scholarship on which she agreed to transfer for a job at a rural health clinic in Tonasket, Washington. It is approximately 30 minutes from the British Columbia, Canada border. It has about 1,100 inhabitants – it’s really small and rural.

We rented a double wide trailer for a few months after moving in January 2021. It was the only option. In April we were able to buy a house here. Now we have a much larger space than in San Francisco, with a garden. The woman who used to own it was an excellent gardener.

Our rent in San Francisco was twice what our mortgage payments are now.

We’ve also saved some money because we don’t eat or drink as much as we used to; There are fewer options here. In San Francisco we went out to eat about twice a week. Now we go out to eat about once a month. But groceries are no cheaper than in San Francisco.

I love the freedom of working from home, but I miss the conversations in the office

I don’t have to commute – I just go downstairs to my little office in our basement. For a while I did two hikes a day, one before work and one after. But now we have a 10 month old boy.

One of the biggest challenges is keeping the team together and maintaining good communication. We started meeting virtually once a month and each person shared a photo from a trip or what they did last weekend, for example. It was very powerful to learn more about people’s lives.

But it’s hard not to have those little moments when you’re chatting down a hallway with a colleague or where you can have lunch together. You definitely lose a bit of that personal touch.

It was a huge relief to make Yelp completely remote

I was the first to move on my team. Little did we know how good it would be for my career to move to such a remote place.

I knew that post-COVID-19 lockdowns, Yelp would continue to work remotely full-time as an option, but that some people would likely choose to go back to the office. I was a bit nervous about how it would feel to have most of the people in the office while working remotely.

When Yelp announced it would be going fully remote in June 2022, it was a relief. Moving here was a leap of faith. But knowing that the company was completely remote opened up a lot of opportunities for our family.

I appreciate the sense of community – and making friends was easier than I thought

Whenever you move somewhere you don’t know a soul, you don’t know how it will turn out. My wife goes to the office but I work from home. I’m an extrovert, so it was important to have friends to hang out with.

I was surprised to find such good friends. There is a great community here. I started attending some events hosted by a local non-profit organization that works for environmental protection and education. They asked if I wanted to join the board. Now they are among my closest friends. It’s so easy to connect with people.

The pace of life was such a nice surprise. We love gardening and being outside – we’ve even learned how to press apples from the local orchards.

My wife and I moved every three years. But that’s the first place it feels right. It’s a pretty sweet life. Maybe we could spend the rest of our lives here.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) — San Francisco-based Airbnb will allow its employees to live and work almost anywhere around the world, fully embracing a remote work policy to attract staff and ensure flexibility.

The San Francisco short-term stay company said late Thursday that under the new policy, employees can work from the office, home or during their travels to 170 countries.

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Staff will still have to meet in person for regular team meetings and events, CEO Brian Chesky said in a message to employees. Salaries won’t change if employees decide to move.

Employees can spend up to three months working in each country they visit every year but they will still need a permanent address for tax and payroll reasons, which involves a “mountain of complexities,” but Chesky said the company is working on an open-source solutions.

The new policy will put the company in a better position to hire and retain the best people by not “limiting the talent pool to a commuting radius around our offices,” Chesky said. Remote work and flexibility “will become the predominant way that we all work 10 years from now,” he said.

Millions of people switched to working remotely during the pandemic to limit potential exposure to COVID-19. Companies are beginning to ask those workers to come back to the office, at least on a hybrid basis, including other tech companies such as Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft.

Think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley says workplace flexibility is going to be the new norm.

“The interesting shift is that this has come to be classified now as a worker right — not a privilege but a right. In other words, it’s a perk that has come to be expected and I think the world is just going to be organized that way,” said President and CEO Russell Hancock.

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“There will be ripple effects in the economy. We’ll see that in the corporate kitchens, we’ll see that in the other corporate services that used to be provided on a full-time basis, now they’re only being provided on an occasional basis,” Hancock said.

Small businesses may struggle to get foot traffic.

This week the San Francisco Controller’s Office released a report that found that more than 20 percent of office space is sitting empty in the city, up from 7% in January 2020.

Jonathan Perez of Emeryville currently works from home for a for-profit education institution.

“If I’m getting paid the lifestyle of San Francisco — which is a high lifestyle — and I could move to the Midwest and get paid a really nice job, salary and then buy a house in the Midwest,” he said. “So it would actually incentivize me to maybe not live here because it’s very expensive here.”

Rita Gilliland is visiting San Francisco from Houston where she’s already spotted a lot of California license plates around town.

“If you’re the person moving from California — yeah, absolutely it’s good for you. Cost of living is significantly different in Houston,” she said. “So anybody who’s coming from California to Houston, if they’re going to have their same pay, they’re going to be doing pretty well. So it’s probably a good perk for them.”

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KPIX correspondent Betty Yu contributed to this report

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – The annual 4/20 celebration in Golden Gate Park is returning Wednesday after a two-year hiatus, but San Francisco officials said there would be differences compared to pre-pandemic gatherings on Hippie Hill.

The city announced Monday that regulated and tested cannabis would be sold for the first time at the event. As a result, no one under 21 would be allowed at the celebration.

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City officials said the celebration area at Hippie Hill would be surrounded by fences and event staff would check identification and bags.

“This year marks an important moment in the history of 420 at Hippie Hill,” said Nikesh Patel, who directs the city’s Office of Cannabis. “For the first time, regulated cannabis will be available for sale and consumption at this year’s event. This novel opportunity showcases the strength of San Francisco’s vibrant cannabis community and brings new requirements to help create a safe, clean, and enjoyable experience for everyone who attends.”

dr Grant Colfax, the city’s director of health, offered advice to revelers. “Know where the substances you’re consuming come from and only trust reputable vendors. Support yourself and those around you by being on the lookout for signs of breathing difficulty or unresponsiveness,” he said.

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Mayor London Breed said Monday, “I look forward to another successful 420 in Golden Gate Park, but we need everyone to remember to pick up after themselves, stay respectful, keep things peaceful, and of course, have a good time.”

Officials said 40 park rangers and private security will manage safety of the event. The fire department will be fully staffed, EMS services would be provided and police will have an increased presence outside the venue.

The celebration of all things cannabis has drawn large crowds to Golden Gate Park for years, long before the state legalized recreational use.

An estimated 14,000 people attended the most recent 4/20 celebration at Hippie Hill in 2019. Officials anticipate up to 20,000 for this year’s event.

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The celebration, which will include live DJs, comedy and food sales, is scheduled from noon to 5 pm Gates open at 10 am

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COLFAX (CBS SF) – The containment of the burning river fire in the Nevada and Placer counties increased when evacuated residents were first allowed to re-enter the fire zone, according to the fire department.

With the update from Cal Fire on Monday morning, containment was increased to 68 percent overnight. The size of the fire is still just over 2,600 hectares.

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On Monday, firefighters continued to work on strengthening the containment lines around the houses and moving further inside the fire to look for hotspots.

From 1 p.m. on Monday afternoon, evacuated residents were allowed to return to the fire zone for the first time to check their apartments. The fire brigade had previously confirmed that 88 buildings were destroyed and 20 damaged.

For Nevada County, a re-entry center was opened at Bear River High School at 11130 Magnolia Road in Grass Valley from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. for emergency services and other agencies.

Re-entry passes for residents with evacuation orders for the #RiverFire are available at Bear River High School from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 8/9. available. Passes will be available later this week at the Sheriff’s Office, 950 Maidu Ave, Nevada City, 8 am-5pm on October 8th-8th, 2013. to be available. pic.twitter.com/zlzDF8VISh

– Nevada County OES (@NevCoOES) August 9, 2021

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The main purpose of the re-entry center is to notify residents of damage to their property and to issue IDs that allow homeowners to return to their apartments in areas that are still closed to the public. Law enforcement will patrol the closed areas and verify entry passports.

A re-entry center will open at Colfax Elementary School at 24825 Ben Taylor Road in Placer County, providing evacuated residents with re-entry badges to the fire area, as well as face masks and information about the safety of the fire area.

UPDATE on evacuation orders for river fires:
A re-entry center is open today from 1pm to 5pm at Colfax Elementary School for people in the mandatory evacuation area. For more information: https://t.co/5WOieDIAm2 #PCSO #RiverFire #ColfaxCA #PlacerCounty pic.twitter.com/5Xc6D6S9Wp

– Placer Sheriff (@PlacerSheriff) August 9, 2021

Evacuated residents can also dial 211 and provide their name, home address and contact information. A representative from the district will contact you within a few hours to follow up.

Residents returning home are advised that the fire brigade will continue to work in the fire zone and reduce their speeds if necessary.

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Cal Fire expects the fire to be fully contained by Friday.

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San Francisco restaurants opened last week, but only for al fresco dining, right? The answer is yes.

The shops are open, but can I enter? The answer is also yes.

In the past few weeks, San Francisco has made some changes to its on-site layout to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, and the list of businesses that are allowed to open is growing and difficult to track.

Below is a summary of the guidelines provided on the SF.gov website, as well as an overview of what can currently be open if the safety protocol and social distancing measures are followed. Keep in mind that the city requires you to wear face covering when you leave your home and recommends frequent hand washing. And don’t forget to keep your distance from others.

– Botanical gardens

– cannabis retailers

– Child care with a stable group of 12 children

– construction

– dog parks

– Entertainment venues for live streaming events without an audience

– Roadside pickup and drop-off equipment rental companies, including companies that rent bikes, kayaks, paddle boards, boats, riding gear, and fishing gear

– Major businesses including hospitals, grocery stores, gas stations, bike repairs, banks (see full list)

– Golf with limits

– Health care facilities and services, including elective surgery and dental appointments

– Hotels only for essential reasons (e.g. to quarantine COVID-19 patients)

– In-home services such as housekeepers, gardeners, landscapers, cooks, and others who provide services to other people’s homes

– Low-contact services such as dog grooming, shoe repair and electronics repair

– Offices for employees who cannot work from home

– Outdoor businesses, including outdoor nurseries, garden centers,

– Outdoor fitness classes, especially boot camps, solo dance, yoga and tai chi

– Outdoor historical sites

– open air museums

– Parks, beaches and skate parks

– Property demonstrations by video or with a realtor and only up to two other people who are members of the same household

– Takeaway and al fresco restaurants (here is a list of restaurants serving al fresco dining)

– Retail stores for roadside pickup and indoor shopping

– Short-term rentals are only permitted for essential reasons (e.g. to accommodate health workers).

– Small outdoor gatherings

– Summer camps with a stable group of 12 children

– supply chain businesses

– Tennis, only for singles

More details and guidelines on each of these sectors can be found at SF.gov.

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Four boroughs in the Bay Area can now resume face-to-face tuition at all K-6 public schools after their new coronavirus case rate falls below the state school reopening threshold.

Public schools that have not yet resumed their personal classes in Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties can do so now as part of the state schools reopening, California Health and Welfare Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly on Tuesday during a briefing on the pandemic.

Prior to the state’s order to stay home during the winter, counties did not have to stay in the state’s most restrictive purple reopening tier for two weeks to begin reopening schools for personal tuition.

Schools that opened before the Bay Area Home Stay Ordinance came into effect on December 11th were allowed to remain open for face-to-face teaching, but unopened schools were prevented from doing so.

With the average daily case rate per 100,000 residents for all four counties now under 25 for at least five consecutive days, the state has allowed each county to reopen all K-6 schools if they so choose.

“You will recall the state knocking on the door a few weeks ago at a rate of 100 per 100,000 a day,” Ghaly said. “So, good news to see a number of counties under 25.”

Burlingame Elementary School District announced that it plans to reopen to hybrid learning in grade TK-2 on Thursday, February 4, after the cleared case was counted below 25 per 100,000. The district reported that the adjusted case count for San Mateo County is now 17.9 per 100,000 for five consecutive days. The district authority will discuss the addition of grades 3 through 5 at its February 9 meeting.

Schools in grades 7 through 12 that have already reopened may continue to provide face-to-face tuition under the state framework for school reopening.

According to the California Department of Health, schools with higher grades that have not yet opened will have to wait for their county to exit the purple grade to do so.

To get out of the purple tier, a county must record a rate of new cases per 100,000 residents under the age of seven and a positivity rate for coronavirus tests below 8%.

Governor Gavin Newsom has urged state lawmakers to approve $ 2 billion to help reopen schools amid the pandemic while the state works to vaccinate larger swathes of its population.

The fate of this funding package and the timing of when teachers can get vaccinations remain up in the air and could affect the number of schools that will reopen before spring.

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