This man built a bedroom 'pod' because SF housing's too expensive (businessinsider.com)

and living in the pod costs "only" $500 a month

my boyfriend immediately said that for this guy, having a girl staying over would be problematic

The median rent for a 1 bedroom is $3460? I knew it was bad up there, but that is almost double what it costs in Los Angeles.

Nice, it reminds me of Ken Isaacs. He designed free standing living structures with movable pallets so they could be reconfigured and plywood skins for privacy. You can read his book online [https://issuu.com/golfstromen/docs/ken-isaacs-1974] since it's out of print.