The article gave the impression that some people live there for months ("others settle in for months"). Even so, there are rooms available for <$600 in that neighborhood on CL. The deposit isn't an expense and utilities etc aren't going to be another $600/month unless something sketchy is going on.
I did a quick search on Airbnb for private rooms in the Castro neighborhood (which is where their SF location is) that don't exceed $40/night and there are 34 results. [1] This "hacker hostel" isn't in line with market rates if they're putting 10 people in each room.
For reasons I cannot fathom, if I bump the max price for the above search up to $45, only eight listings are returned.
I did a quick search on Airbnb for private rooms in the Castro neighborhood (which is where their SF location is) that don't exceed $40/night and there are 34 results. [1] This "hacker hostel" isn't in line with market rates if they're putting 10 people in each room.
For reasons I cannot fathom, if I bump the max price for the above search up to $45, only eight listings are returned.
[1] http://www.airbnb.com/s/Castro--San-Francisco--CA?room_types...