City of San Francisco says it's illegal to live in a box

Building walls to the ceiling would require a building permit. Which the county wouldn't grant because it would be hazardous and violate the building code.

This may be the new normal. It's certainly the future predicted to us in Stand on Zanzibar.

Building codes in the US typically require minimum dimensions for habitable spaces. These minimums reflect experience developed over the millenia and the requirement that laws and regulations have objective criteria and that governments generally apply them uniformly.

It would if you could just take your job with you to mexico you could live for 1/3 the cost with better weather.

Here you go, just 8 hours away, only $450/mo. 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment Much better than a box. http://www.vivanuncios.com.mx/a-renta-inmuebles/tijuana/se-r...

Not exsctly the same. Those are for short over night stays mostly. Also you are sleeping a tube but the end is covered with a drape.

That being said, some micro apartment progress could be made in SF

San Franciscos problem is building restrictions not high rent. Most of that is from the investor who owns a high % of property in san fran and his weight in the city.

With building regs like other cities we'd have skyscrapers to accomodate everyone who wants to live here at reasonable cost.

In the US there are typically legal limits on how many people can be crammed into buildings and rooms. Those limits are based on experience in general and those of fire and rescue personnel in particular.

Unlike many laws and regulations, those governing buildings tend to be more data driven than is common. The trigger for technical and empirically driven building and land development regulations in the US was the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Much of the data on human safety in buildings was drawn from the insurance industry's actuarial and claims data. Many of the improvements in life safety driven by that industry, e.g. UL is "underwriters laboratories" and the National Fire Protection Association [NFPA] is funded by the insurance industry but it's technical documents are based on consensus with professional fire fighters.