Teeny tiny SF apartments? Not just yet.

The idea of reducing the minimum apartment unit size in San Francisco to 150 square feet had the brakes applied this week, and now a decision on the idea isn’t expected until September.

Looks like the idea of micro-sizing apartments isn’t necessarily the next great thing for the powers that be at City Hall. Supervisor Scott Wiener and a cohort of developers are into it, but Wiener’s colleagues on the board of supervisors, as well as advocates in favor of a livable urban environment, aren’t so sure.

The fear is this: allowing smaller apartment sizes could motivate apartment owners to downsize existing units drastically, in order to make more money with an increase in the number of units. And there’s a rent control loophole here too: by converting older buildings into smaller units, landlords could end up with a free pass to raise rents as high as they want – for a much smaller space.

Supervisors aren’t sure, and we’d concur, that it’s a good idea to encourage mass development of teeny tiny apartments that are the size of hotel rooms – but cram packed with all the stuff you need to have an everyday life.  It could be legislation that forcibly reduces overall quality of life.

City density regulations would still apply, so these couldn’t be built everywhere, but some neighborhoods (like South of Market) have higher allowable residential densities, and they’d be bearing the brunt of this type of construction.

Meanwhile renters are struggling with their apartment searches – prices on non-rent control units are reaching for the sky, and there are hardly any rent controlled properties turning vacant.

By the way, the 150 square feet figure doesn’t include the bathroom, closet and kitchen space of the apartment. So realistically, it’s more of a 200-250 foot square unit when all is said and done. Legislation would limit residency in the micro apartments to two persons. We already have units of 250-300 square feet, and no one would argue that they are awfully small.

What do you think? Should the minimum apartment size be reduced?