Brownstone exists for people who want a real foothold in San Francisco but are too often locked out by the cost, friction, and isolation of getting started. Housing shapes who gets to participate in a city. We build shared homes that make it easier for artists, founders, educators, service workers, and people in transition to get close to the jobs, communities, and cultural life they contribute to.
Our aim is simple: lower the barrier to entry so more people can say yes to the opportunity in front of them, meet the right collaborators, and build momentum from the inside of the city rather than from its margins. If you want to learn more, tap here to get in touch.
The point of Brownstone is not the furniture or the floorplan. It is what becomes possible when someone gets a real shot at living in the city, meeting people they would never otherwise meet, and building a life that once felt out of reach.
Kourosh made art in the desert for a long time. The desert is beautiful but it does not change. He needed something that would change him back.
San Francisco. Now he sells his paintings at Union Square, at Fort Mason, in the open air of a city that is always becoming something. So is he.
I am a queer mestizo artist examining apocalyptic time, loneliness, and meaning through mythopoetic paintings and zines. After graduating with a BFA from the University of New Mexico, I spent a few years solo traveling to build up a portfolio of meaningful experiences and risks, reflecting deeply on questions of belonging and home. Cutting contact with my Mormon family, I was ready for a change in scenery and chances to build found family away from my desert hometown of Albuquerque.
In 2024, I designed and completed an independent traveling artist "residency" abroad, documenting landscapes and intimacy in a time of eco-crises through a zine project now held in two U.S. library collections. During this time I also read and fell in love with the books of Bay Area authors like Rebecca Solnit and Jenny Odell, and I synchronously had a final layover in San Francisco after my journey. Following an internal instinct, I planned a visit.
I spent a couple years visiting just to explore, attending job fairs, and reaching out to housing listings on Facebook. I finally found out about Brownstone shared housing through a newsreel that induced skepticism. Seeing that 30 people sleep in pods on the same floor was no automatic sell. But through the variety of hostels I'd stayed in over the past few years, I knew I had the capacity. What felt more crucial was the opportunity to be immersed in a creative communal context, being surrounded by people working at the intersection of creativity and business. I had no safety net of people I knew in the city either, so figured a leap into communal living would boost my chances of some solid connections.
The rent was only $700 and all-inclusive, so I decided to make the leap with no job lined up. I packed my life into a suitcase, and fit a bike, a guitar, and some sketchbooks in a rental car and made off for California.
As of April 2026, I have been living at Brownstone for 4 months and I'm deeply grateful for what the situation has afforded me: namely, a chance to really immerse myself in a city that has always been a queer sanctuary, with an amazing location in the heart of downtown, occasions to network and connect with people I couldn't have imagined crossing paths with, and opportunities to continue practicing making an art of living.
I'm currently an educator, and I've enjoyed contributing drawings and meaningful quotes of a political nature, meant to define and align us on shared values, to the community chalkboard. While safety and political alignment can never be guaranteed, I found my trust in people has grown while living here. A community is only as beautiful and vibrant as the care each person brings to the space. Though there have been instances where trust has been challenged, I am always fed by the acts of care that occur and the kindness people bring here.
Though this living situation may not be long-term viable, I am proud to have nurtured my capacity to show up and bring care to a space, and to have gotten the chance to land on my feet in the city. Though the place draws a lot of people working in AI startups, I see Brownstone Shared Housing as a place with rich potential for also forming system-changing political movements and nurturing future generations of under-resourced artists and queer POC like myself. The diversity of people who live here is what makes it enriching, and while one may not fully get to know everyone, the possibility is always there. It's always surprising and inspiring to see what kind of people bring out different sides of your own personality. While it takes courage and some adjustment, there are absolutely chances to belong at Brownstone.
