If you can't afford at least $1,000 in rent, then it may be difficult to find anywhere to live in San Francisco -- even just a room. The average market rate per room on new leases has now gone well above $1,000 per month. Spots in shared-living situations with rent-controlled leases that make prices lower are few and coveted. And even some privately run single-room-occupancies (SRO), often a last resort before homelessness, are now charging $1,000 in rent for a room that doesn't even have its own bathroom or kitchen.
Bedrooms for under $1,000 a month can still be found on the fringes of some less popular neighborhoods or with students near San Francisco State. But the only way to get a spot in one of the city's trendier neighborhoods for that price is to convince a master tenant with a rent-controlled lease to let you move in. For these spots, applicants compete against dozens or, in some cases, hundreds of other candidates.
Getting selected to sublet a room in a shared-living situation depends on the whims of the leaseholders. Applicants send tailored cover letters, fight to win attention at open houses, and attempt to impress potential housemates during one-on-one interviews. The whole thing is a subjective process with little protection against prejudices like ageism, sexism or racism. If the master tenant doesn't like you, you won't get picked.
To beat the competition and get a hotly coveted room, applicants are trying anything they can. Some advertise themselves on Craigslist as great roommates. Others send LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. Francesco Mursia made a video introducing himself and describing his favorite pastimes. He is not getting many responses.
Mursia thinks part of the problem is his age. Many of the other applicants are 20-somethings in a period of transition. Mursia is 39. He would like to live alone, but with his budget ($1,000/month) that's not possible in San Francisco. He's been looking for a room since September. He checks Craigslist every day, sends out emails and goes to open houses. During this process, he said, “You ask yourself, why don't I stand out?”