As a grown adult, for 1,200 bucks a month, you can willingly pay to live in a bunk bed unit with multiple other people in your room where you are provided with ramen noodles, not allowed to have guests over, must be in bed by 10:00 PM at night, and, basically, give up your privacy. Oh yeah, also the founder of this novel idea out of San Francisco based it off of communism. Why would anybody do this? Well, the mainly 20-somethings who choose to do so in the Golden Gate City say they have no other choice because of the progressive city's rising cost of living. They could of course, simply not vote Democratic to help address the issue.
CNN originally reported about the business:
A PodShare membership allows you to snag any of the 220 beds -- or pods -- at six locations across Los Angeles and one in San Francisco. There's no deposit and no commitment. You get a bed, a locker, access to wifi and the chance to meet fellow "pod-estrians." Each pod includes a shelf and a personal television. Food staples, like cereal and ramen, and toiletries like toothpaste and toilet paper, are also included.
Elvina Beck, PodShare's founder, told CNN, "I was born in the USSR in 1985. My whole concept was like the idea of the government giving you everything in a communist state, what if you could subscribe to a communist state and have all your needs met."
The lack of privacy angle is no joke. Beck said that in order to live there, you must be willing to make new friends and you must be comfortable with sharing pretty much everything.
"You have to be willing to share," she says. "I think if you are not willing to share a small space with a stranger, PodShare is not for you."
And there are some ground rules: Lights out at 10 pm, and no guests allowed.
"You can't invite any friends over," she says. "Sorry. Just make new ones here."
In the interview, this was confirmed as a tenant named Stephen Johnson toured CNN around the apartment. "This location two bathrooms," he noted before opening a door. "And this one is currently being used," he noted as he peered around the door and quickly shut it with an awkward chuckle.
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PodShare is a co-living space where tenants pay $1,200 a month to rent a "pod," or bunk bed, in one of its San Francisco or Los Angeles locations https://t.co/dXdIjKcel5 pic.twitter.com/2muG33tR46
— CNN (@CNN) July 5, 2019
Fittingly, Democratic Socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders tweeted on Tuesday this week that "Housing is so unaffordable in San Francisco that entire families are forced to live in 6'x10' rooms and share a kitchen with 30 other families. In the richest country in the world, we are going to end that disgrace. Decent housing must be a right of all Americans."
Housing is so unaffordable in San Francisco that entire families are forced to live in 6'x10' rooms and share a kitchen with 30 other families.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 10, 2019
In the richest country in the world we are going to end that disgrace. Decent housing must be a right of all Americans. @janeosanders pic.twitter.com/obk93ebuKU
As Logan Dobson pointed out to Sanders, "San Francisco has: - A Democratic Mayor - A Democratic City Council - Democratic State Representatives - Democratic State Senators - A Democratic Congresswoman (Nancy Pelosi, if you know her) - Two Democratic Senators - A Democratic Governor ...do you see a pattern?"
San Francisco has:
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) July 10, 2019
- A Democratic Mayor
- A Democratic City Council
- Democratic State Representatives
- Democratic State Senators
- A Democratic Congresswoman (Nancy Pelosi, if you know her)
- Two Democratic Senators
- A Democratic Governor
...do you see a pattern? https://t.co/Hre2Xv6xv9
Indeed, the solution to cheaper housing is not bigger government like Sen. Sanders wants. Instead, it can be found in deregulations, changing certain zoning laws, cutting taxes, and more limiting of the government which allows Americans to keep more of their hard earned money and decide where to live.
"The PodShare" idea, while people voluntarily live there because they think they have no other options, serves as a reminder of what is to come should the government get more involved and provide free housing like so many people want. The rooms are barren, the food stinks, your individualism is stripped away, and you have essentially no self-autonomy or private property. That is the future the left wants, that is what is at stake in the 2020 election.
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