New from NPR! Shoebox Apartment! 舊金山寸土寸金，小套房解決住的問題

New from NPR!

經濟不景氣，不要說台灣無殼蝸牛望屋興嘆，美國舊金山灣區
很多房子連科技新貴都租不起。我個人有個小嗜好，那就是散步去大台北
各地的豪宅區，然後望屋想像自己住在裡面的情景，偶爾會從豪宅的
迎賓車道上看到一個貴婦從進口車子裡面走出來，鼻孔朝天很驕傲的樣子
其實這些人享受的都是天人福報，真是令人好生羨慕。
不過後來我就自我安慰，其實人生最快樂的事情不是住豪宅
而是跟你所愛的人住在一起。活在這個動盪不安的時代
我們拿出樂觀的精神，其實人類不需要甚麼了不起的物質生活
凡事開心就好!

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http://www.npr.org/2012/10/18/163174623/to-shrink-rents-sf-considers-shrinking-apartments
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To Shrink Rents, S.F. Considers Shrinking Apartments

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Apartments in pricey crowded又貴又擁擠的 San Francisco could soon go micro迷你(超小/微型). A proposed building code建築法規/規則 change would allow the minimum size of a studio unit在美國，studio公寓屬於完全沒有隔間的開放式空間 to shrink down to just 220 square feet(這樣的平方英呎換算成台灣人的坪數差不多六坪不到). That includes a bathroom, kitchen and closet. From member station跟NPR有合作的地方電台 KQED in San Francisco, Stephanie Martin reports that fans of the idea are willing to sacrifice a little space if it means paying less in the expensive Bay Area舊金山彎區.

STEPHANIE MARTIN, BYLINE: In most large cities like, say, Dallas, Phoenix, even parts of Chicago, $800 a month is enough for a clean, one-bedroom apartment, decked out with用…裝飾(目的是要突顯吸引力) a living room, a washer and dryer洗衣機與烘乾機, maybe even a pool in a larger complex大型的社區住宅. But if you're single and want to live on your own in San Francisco, no deal. The region's resurgent 復活/再起的high-tech industry is luring in吸引 so many well-educated, well-paid workers right now, the average rent for a studio is now around $2,000.

ANDY HUANG: Yeah, this is the apartment.

MARTIN: Thirty-one-year-old Andy Huang moved here from New York City a couple of months ago, and though he has a good job in tech在科技產業擁有好工作, he's living with three roommates in a two-bedroom apartment.

HUANG: Hey, Leo. Hi.

MARTIN: His roommate, Leo, lives in what was probably once a pantry茶水間(用來儲藏餐具的小空間). The other two roommates have the real bedrooms. And once upon a time, Huang's room was a living room.

HUANG: So as you can see, there's no closet.

MARTIN: Clothes hang on a set of parallel bars一組平行的竿子 in the corner. Contact lens cases隱形眼鏡盒子, deodorant止汗劑 and other toiletries盥洗用品 adorn the fireplace mantel佔據了壁爐上空間. There's no sofa, no desk. A laptop筆電 sits on the bed. He's paying $800 month.

HUANG: This is definitely not for everyone. I think people would be frustrated by the fact that this room has no closet, and there's four guys sharing a bathroom.

SCOTT WIENER: We have a housing affordability crisis購屋/租屋危機 in San Francisco. Rents are through the roof貴到離譜.

MARTIN: City supervisor舊金山市政府的城市督察員 Scott Wiener authored發起 the micro apartment proposal小套房計畫 for people in Huang's situation. He says he wants to help people who would prefer their own space想要有一個屬於自己的空間 but can't afford the city's sky-high rents爆貴的/天價租金.

WIENER: And if we can give them an option選擇 that's smaller for 12 or 14, $1,500, that's a good thing.

MARTIN: Shoebox apartments鞋盒公寓(通常是狹長型的小套房) are commonplace常見的 in large international cities like Tokyo and Paris. Berkeley-based architect Patrick Kennedy is convinced the smaller spaces will soon catch on會被接受且喜愛 in San Francisco. He points to other U.S. cities now trying them on for size, like Boston and New York, where a pilot program實驗性的 recently launched啟動. Well, this doesn't seem that small.

PATRICK KENNEDY: No. In fact, it will seem bigger, believe it or not, once it has furnishings裝潢擺設.

MARTIN: Kennedy shows me one of about two dozen兩打 apartments he's building close to downtown.

KENNEDY: You know, it's like the Volkswagen or the, you know, Fiat Cinque Terre, I mean, it's a tiny car or the smart car. People are skeptical存疑 when it's first introduced, but soon, it's embraced被接受且喜愛.

MARTIN: This unit he's showing me today is just a tad over 只有超過一點點the smallest legal size法定的室內尺寸 in San Francisco - 290 square feet六坪多. But Kennedy says he could easily go smaller if city leaders approve the micro unit ordinance法令 going up for a vote由民眾投票決定 next month. Packing in a lot is his specialty.他的專長就是在極小的空間哩，塞進去最多功能的住宅

KENNEDY: We have a window seat with a table靠窗的一套桌椅 that goes up over there in the corner. We have a dining room table that converts to a Murphy bed餐桌可以變成收納床 over here. We're going to have a loveseat雙人沙發 there, a desk, flat-screen TV平面電視 over there.

MARTIN: And this is a - this looks like a, oh, dishwasher洗碗機. OK.

KENNEDY: Yeah, dishwasher, yeah.

MARTIN: Some critics評論家 worry that if super-small units become too popular, San Francisco will go the way of Singapore專家擔心這種迷你套房會太受歡迎，讓美國變成跟新加坡一樣, which is now having to limit micro-unit construction to reduce overcrowding and to make more space for families新加坡政府現在已經限建迷你套房了，因為這些小空間讓居住環境變得狹小，壓縮家庭活動空間. For NPR News, I'm Stephanie Martin in San Francisco.