To Shrink Rents, S.F. Considers Shrinking Apartments

In many large cities, like Dallas, Phoenix and even parts of Chicago, $800 a month is enough for a clean one-bedroom apartment, decked out with a living room, washer and dryer — and maybe even a pool, in a larger complex.

But if you want to live alone in San Francisco, getting those amenities at that price is practically a pipe dream. With the region’s resurgent high-tech industries luring many well-educated, well-paid workers to the Bay Area, the average rent for a studio apartment in the city now runs around $2,000.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a proposal that seeks to address that. A proposed change to the building code would reduce the minimum allowed size for a studio to just 220 square feet. That includes the bathroom, kitchen and closet — leaving a living area about the size of a cruise-ship cabin.