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...