Why the Dream of Turning Empty Offices Into Housing Is a Bust

After success with electric cars and rocket ships, Elon Musk has turned his attention to a more challenging problem: creating new bedrooms in San Francisco.

According to reporting in Forbes, employees returning to Twitter HQ last week discovered “modest bedrooms featuring unmade mattresses, drab curtains and giant conference-room telepresence monitors … one room even has a plant.” It’s a natural fit for a company where Musk has simultaneously fired thousands of workers and braced those that remain for “extremely hardcore” work.

If only it were so easy! The next day, San Francisco building inspectors launched an investigation into the company. Three hours later, Musk responded by sharing a story of a baby who had reportedly accidentally overdosed on fentanyl in a local playground. “Where are your priorities,” he asked, tagging Mayor London Breed.

Musk’s view of work-life balance may be extreme, but his problems are emblematic of a more general trend: The heralded conversion of half-empty downtown office space into much-needed housing has not materialized. At all. According to a report published by CBRE last month, there have been only 42 completed office conversions in the entire country this year, one fewer than last year’s 43 and on par with the 2019 figure.