With legislation passed last year to allow micro apartments of 220 square feet in San Francisco as a means to address the housing shortage and accompanying rising cost of living space, 120 of the approved 375 units are now in the works. At $1,300 a month, they are designed for singles—who make up 40 percent of the population—and can compact their lives into a bath, a Murphy Bed that folds down into a table, a kitchen area, about ten books, two plates and large windows. Gabriel Metcalf, of San Francisco Planning and Urban Design, says, “Think of the Parisian model where people have less private space but the street life is glorious, with the sidewalks, the parks and the plazas making up for that.” As sfgate.com reports, “Micro and near-micro units are part of the solution, but they don’t work for lots of types of households,” states Jed Kolko, chief economist for real estate site Trulia.com. “Few people would raise kids in a 300-square-foot apartment. Micro-units will probably see more turnover than larger units.” MHProNews knows San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the world in which to live. Alan Mark of Mark & Co., “Think of your apartment as your bedroom and the neighborhood as your living room.”

(Photo credit: Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle–Kayla Smith pays $1,850 for 279 square feet plus rooftop deck and gym access.)