[Harkins]

For anyone wondering how this is possible: by violating fire code. He says he, then he and his wife, then one or both of their children were sleeping in the closet. I'm not familiar with the language of the California Building Code, but in the 2014 verison, volume 1, chapter 10 gets into the limits. The closet is not a "sleeping unit": it doesn't meet the 120 sqft minimum, doesn't have a wide enough door, and doesn't have two methods of egress. There's probably more I didn't find.

I know this seems like tedious legal nitpicking and the main apartment room is right there and "everybody does it", but nearly every line of fire and building code exists because of a preventable tragedy. Even if it's not against the lease it's unsafe. (And he built a barely-braced lofted bed in an earthquake zone!?)

The author happily compounded the rent they saved every month but failed to compound the increased risks they took every night.

[panic]

Are fire codes really enforced in this way? Obviously the closet wasn't built to sleep in. It's one thing to force building owners and landlords to build and maintain rooms a certain way, but using a law to force people not to sleep in a closet seems counterproductive.

[ars]

Oh definitely. Especially for rentals.

To be a bedroom it has to have a window, a certain size (which varies), and some places even require a closet in the room.

If they find a bed in a room like that they normally start with a warning, then a visit from child protection services, or even condemning the entire house.

Obviously if they don't inspect they'll never know, but rentals, and people with contact with authority (CPS, Police, etc) could expect an inspection.

If you own, I'm not sure if the fire department can legally enter a home for an inspection without a warrant, but for a rental I believe they can, and do!

[guard-of-terra]

I always wonder why child "protection" services feel the need to harrass middle class families running a little low, when they could go to ghetto and have an unlimited supply of totally ruined families to have fun with. Multi-generation alchohol and drug abuse and all that stuff available in numbers.

Stop harrassing us until you solved them. Bye.

[01Michael10]

What nonsense did I just read? Child protection services are mostly operating in the "ghetto". They go where the complaints are...

Are you really saying people with some money should be able to bend the law but not poor people?

[dottedmag]

Ghetto folks can fight back. Middle class will not.

[rwallace]

How much - in actual numbers - is the increased risk?

How does it compare to the risks of alternative courses of action such as moving to a neighborhood with a higher crime rate, tolerating an increased commute (hours of life directly lost, increased risk of road accidents, increased chronic stress with accompanying health risks) or moving to a different city before having a replacement job lined up?

[jkot]

At this picture you can see closet door was removed, there is just curtain.

http://www.gregkroleski.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/studi...

[kqr2]

Unfortunate reality of housing shortage in SF. Most of these things people turn a blind eye towards such as an 89 year old lady paying $700 to sleep in a closet.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/03/prop-f/

[ars]

To be a bed room it must have a window - which also counts as one of the means of egress.

[varjag]

Not just any window, it has to meet size and location requirements too.