Home alone in Gotham: when all you can afford is tiny dwellings

As an introvert, I totally understand how privileged it feels to live alone in your own space after coping with the stress of living with housemates. I get it why 90sf could be an enticing option. Great video! Thanks for giving us a peek into how people are adapting to an inflated housing market that limits how much space an average person can afford.

$1200 a month for 86 sqft. Absolutely insane!

It’s so concerning that people are being conditioned to accept smaller and more expensive living spaces. It’s getting so extreme.

The guy w glasses ( hair cutter and editor) is going places. He’s humble and motivated and is very organized with his space. I don’t think the small space bothers him enough to not focus on where he wants to go in life. I wish him great things!

I've lived in big houses, so much work to upkeep! Now I live in a tiny house, the secret is minimal possessions, such a relief to get rid of all that stuff

NYC is more than Manhattan. Manhattan is ridiculous. I lived on Long Island for 3.5 years until Sept 2021 and worked in the city. I was living with family while working on getting established there. The costs for apartments was exorbitant overall. What is missing in your conversations is the up front fees AND proof of income in multiples of the rent you have to have to even be considered for an apartment in greater NYC. It's a BAMBOOZLE and overrated. It's all for the sake of caché. I don't even feel bad for folk who want to endure it. I moved to Tulsa for an overall lower cost of living with a ballet, a symphony, abotanical garden, a zoo, an aquarium, 2 planetaria, an international airport, a Saks, AND a half-height copy of the original WTC tower by the SAME architect. I live in a walkable neighborhood adjacent to a university and have multiple parks near by. My commute is 15 minutes. My duplex has SPACE and a yard for $1100/mo. I don't miss NYC.

While my first domicile was a one bedroom apartment, I’ve lived for about twenty years without running water in rural Alaska. In 2019 my husband and I were able to move into a cabin, small, but it does have running water. These apartments are small, but honesty, having running water is more of a luxury than most of us on the west realize.

"This is a Juliet balcony, which is a fancy term for not really a balcony." 😂

"Micro-living" and "tiny dwellings" are both just the PC terms for tenements.

Cannot believe how small these are. My first solo apartment was in 1989 and was around 700 square feet in Oakland, California (it was considered average size). I paid $525.00 including parking and had views of Lake Merritt and downtown. When another unit became vacant, it would take months to fill. Today this same apartment goes for $3,500.00 and could be rented within a few weeks.

If the woman who'd moved to Hawaii reads these comments: she might thing about installing a 'sink twice' on her toilet. They're common in small Japanese apartments, and use the water that refills the toilet as a faucet above the tank, allowing for hand-washing in bathrooms without a full sink. I have one in my bathroom and it works great.

I currently live in a 100 year old apartment building in Chelsea. It was originally my grandparents apartment from the 60s. It’s a 2 bed/2 bath 1300 Sq ft apartment. It falls under rent control laws. So I only pay $500 a month.

That video was so cool. I lived in Manhattan for over 40 years. Our original home in 1969 was a Lower East Side one room, very small studio apartment with a small galley kitchen but a decent narrow bathroom with a full tub. We paid $35 a month for it. I watched the World Trade Centers being built from the 2 windows we had that faced downtown. Then we got a one bedroom apartment one floor up a couple of years later. The ceilings were high and the rooms were large. The living room was on the corner of the building and had 3 large windows. We paid $85 a month for that apartment haha. Those were the days. I miss living in The City, even though I live in Italy now haha.

The irony is that the small space, convertible furniture tends to be really expensive, and a niche market (people who can afford expensive furniture, but not a regular apartment…so basically big cities, like NY or Boston.

I love how you included the history of New York apartments in your reporting. Very well done and very interesting.

It is strange to have constant reminders of how fast a decade has gone by in this video. I remember watching the transformer apartment video and thought it was modern. A decade later and I still think it is modern.

Such a stroll down memory lane. I didn't realize how long I have been following your videos. You sparked my interest in convertible furniture . Well done ..thank you

Nice video, a mini documentary. Those small rooms here in Hong Kong, similar or higher rent, accomodate a family of four, really bad condition.

These early videos are mainly why I still follow you. You make fascinating, engageing and interesting work.

I remember many of these videos from when they 1st aired. I was living in a 3200 sf house and working like a slave. Since then, I've drastically downsized, even living out of a backpack for a year and then moving overseas. I'm back in the US since 2017 and still living much smaller. I'm much happier now that I dont let stuff rule me.