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Reasonable people DO live in SROs - surely you've heard of college dormitories? Sharing a bathroom and kitchen while having your own bedroom (or one shared with

Reasonable people DO live in SROs - surely you've heard of college dormitories? Sharing a bathroom and kitchen while having your own bedroom (or one shared with just one other person) is worlds apart from living in a tent without plumbing or real protection from the elements. SROs are best considered temporary housing, but it absolutely is still housing. Additionally, this style of housing is often far cheaper to build than even tiny studios, enabling more units to be built on a faster timeline. Some would even consider the social aspect a positive, as living completely alone can be very isolating. I don't think it's the only solution, but there should definitely be a place for very low-cost housing options like SROs even if we can build more studios or 1-bedroom units in the future.

DoreenMichele 8y ago
I don't think it's the only solution I did list it as "just one data point" in my above comment. I am generally promoting the idea of Missing Middle Housing, not SROs. SROs are simply one form of many that we largely no longer build. I provided a link to the Missing Middle Housing website that defines the various forms of housing we largely no longer build. The website doesn't even list SROs, though I think they could reasonably be assumed to fit under the heading "residential above commercial" in most cases.
maxsilver 8y ago
> surely you've heard of college dormitories? Of course I have (I explicitly mentioned them in my first comment). But are you volunteering to move back into your college dorm room right now? No? Why not? Reasonable people do live there, right? > SROs are best considered temporary housing, but it absolutely is still housing. So, I partially agree. Calling an SRO "temporary housing" is totally fine by me. But if, by your own admission, they're 'best considered temporary housing', then it's not really housing, is it? If my home burns down, so I move into an extended-stay hotel, I'm still homeless, despite being in a hotel room. That hotel room does not mean I am no longer homeless, just because I'm living out of it. If I run out of money for the hotel room, so I start living out of my car, my car does not count as "housing", just because I'm living out of that instead. > but there should definitely be a place for very low-cost housing options like SROs even if we can build more studios or 1-bedroom units in the future. This is where I wholeheartedly disagree -- the studio and 1-bed units should be those very low-cost housing options. It's one thing to use SROs in places where we don't want to fully respect human autonomy (like College Dorms, or Hotels, or similar). But these are not replacements for housing, they are only temporary placeholders at best. Port-a-pottys work because they are temporary toilets. We don't use port-a-potty's as a long-term solution to sanitation, we build real bathrooms instead. For the same reason, why would we burn money building SROs for poor/working-class people, when what we really need is long-term housing? Or in general, why is everyone so quick to devalue the importance of quality housing? As the OP put it, why are we so quick to push ideas that "no middle class person would accept".
siruncledrew 8y ago
There's startups doing exactly this, "dorms for adults": https://www.geekwire.com/2018/quasi-dorms-adults-gain-popularity-affordable-option-booming-cities/ https://www.geekwire.com/2018/quasi-dorms-adults-gain-popula...

DoreenMichele 8y ago

I don't think it's the only solution I did list it as "just one data point" in my above comment. I am generally promoting the idea of Missing Middle Housing, not SROs. SROs are simply one form of many that we largely no longer build. I provided a link to the Missing Middle Housing website that defines the various forms of housing we largely no longer build. The website doesn't even list SROs, though I think they could reasonably be assumed to fit under the heading "residential above commercial" in most cases.

maxsilver 8y ago

> surely you've heard of college dormitories? Of course I have (I explicitly mentioned them in my first comment). But are you volunteering to move back into your college dorm room right now? No? Why not? Reasonable people do live there, right? > SROs are best considered temporary housing, but it absolutely is still housing. So, I partially agree. Calling an SRO "temporary housing" is totally fine by me. But if, by your own admission, they're 'best considered temporary housing', then it's not really housing, is it? If my home burns down, so I move into an extended-stay hotel, I'm still homeless, despite being in a hotel room. That hotel room does not mean I am no longer homeless, just because I'm living out of it. If I run out of money for the hotel room, so I start living out of my car, my car does not count as "housing", just because I'm living out of that instead. > but there should definitely be a place for very low-cost housing options like SROs even if we can build more studios or 1-bedroom units in the future. This is where I wholeheartedly disagree -- the studio and 1-bed units should be those very low-cost housing options. It's one thing to use SROs in places where we don't want to fully respect human autonomy (like College Dorms, or Hotels, or similar). But these are not replacements for housing, they are only temporary placeholders at best. Port-a-pottys work because they are temporary toilets. We don't use port-a-potty's as a long-term solution to sanitation, we build real bathrooms instead. For the same reason, why would we burn money building SROs for poor/working-class people, when what we really need is long-term housing? Or in general, why is everyone so quick to devalue the importance of quality housing? As the OP put it, why are we so quick to push ideas that "no middle class person would accept".

siruncledrew 8y ago

There's startups doing exactly this, "dorms for adults": https://www.geekwire.com/2018/quasi-dorms-adults-gain-popularity-affordable-option-booming-cities/ https://www.geekwire.com/2018/quasi-dorms-adults-gain-popula...