A company that rents “sleeping pods” in downtown San Francisco for $700 a month has had 300 people apply for its remaining 17 beds, the company’s CEO said. Brownstone Shared Housing describes its mission as “providing low cost housing in the most expensive cities”. Its bunkbed-style “pods” measure approximately 3.5ft-by-4ft-by-6.5ft, large enough to fit a twin mattress. The pods come with privacy curtains, inside lighting and charging ports. A year ago, Brownstone’s sleeping pod facility, located in a former bank in downtown San Francisco, was flagged by the city’s department of building inspection for violating city codes, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. But the facility, which opened last July, is now in compliance, allowing the company to rent out its remaining 17 pods, James Stallworth, the company’s CEO, said. Thirteen residents continued to live in the building during the code-enforcement process, he said. In a region wracked by an affordable housing crisis, but also seeing the draw of an artificial intelligence company gold rush, the demand for the $700 sleeping pods has been intense, with nearly 20 people applying for each remaining pod. “Since it is affordable housing, we have to use the city of San Francisco’s process to fill some of the spots, but the rest are going to be filled through our online application process,” Stallworth told the Guardian. He said that the code-enforcement process, which involved transitioning the building in San Francisco’s struggling downtown from an office to a residential space, had been “really slow”, but that the company was working on opening a second, larger San Francisco pod location, with a total of 100 sleeping pods, “early next year”. The company also offers sleeping pods in Palo Alto, where a sleeping pod near Stanford University goes for $800 a month, including utilities. The rent also includes internet, utilities and access to shared bathrooms, storage and a shared kitchen.