I started Let’s Be Buds with two goals:
- Foster human connection.

- Offer affordable rent.

The project fuses the two domestic issues I’m most concerned about:
Our country's loneliness epidemic and housing affordability.

After volunteering with a YIMBY organization in SF, I came to the conclusion that building affordable housing in San Francisco is nearly impossible. Lots of brilliant, hard working people are working on this issue but are being met with a mountain of NIMBY resistance and an ocean of antiquated building and zoning laws.

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Meanwhile, I read about a cool startup providing pod housing in the Bay Area and immediately had them over for dinner. The founders, James & Christina were mission driven and had found a way of offering cheap rent using high end sleep pods and well designed common space. I loved their idea and decided to run with it.

I hopped on LoopNet and found a loft near Alamo Square to rent. I asked a good friend who works as a licensed contractor to build 16 sleep pods in the loft. I advertised the sleep pods on Craigslist and within 3 weeks the space was full.

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I donate a portion of my income to charity. By shifting my charitable donations exclusively to this project, I realized that I could fund it without asking for any donations or applying for grants.

Every month Let’s Be Buds stays in operation, I lose apx. $900. My wife pokes fun at me for being the world's least successful real estate mogul. In actuality, offering affordable rent to 16 people while only spending $900/mo, is actually an amazing deal. In comparison, it’s currently costing us apx. $1,200,000 to build a single unit of affordable housing in SF.

My hope is for Let's Be Buds to be a community that fosters belonging & connection. A place where people struggling to find affordable housing can also find close friends to support them on their path