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Thank you for sharing your personal stories - appreciated. I, also, lived in what might be described as a pseudo SRO for about nine months in 1998/99. I witne

by rsync 7y ago

Thank you for sharing your personal stories - appreciated. I, also, lived in what might be described as a pseudo SRO for about nine months in 1998/99. I witnessed similar things. I'm not sure where these (SROs) should exist or how many of them we should have but it is completely reasonable and judicious to heavily regulate them and keep them out of neighborhoods where personal and familial status has reached a higher level of development.

PopeDotNinja 7y ago
Personally I don't have a problem with poor people living right next to rich people. I think the more we isolate ourselves from each other, the more we lack empathy for each other. Having been homeless, my personal experience is that people who haven't been homeless don't get it at all. The first night I had to think about where to put my stuff, I realized I was not prepared to deal with that.
- lawnchair_larry 7y ago
  The problem is not poor people living next to rich people. SROs would be fine if they were simply people with very little income who take care of themselves and their community. But you know what actually goes on there.
lawnchair_larry 7y ago
I like how people who have likely never been exposed to SROs are downvoting the truth about them, even when it’s coming from people who have actually lived in them. Nobody wants an SRO near them. In theory, it’s just a small, affordable room, and that sounds fine. The reality is quite different.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  The reactions to stories about housing attract a visceral reaction on HN, because it’s a real struggle. We all see the world through our own eyes, and even fairly affluent folks struggle with housing costs. SROs are problematic because they aren’t and cannot be communities. They are warehouses for the desperate, and mostly dropping off points. Residents get more isolated. Others can describe that experience better than I. I can understand the perspective that homeless people are better off with some sort of home than the street. But the reality is homelessness is complex, and a flophouse doesn’t provide the support that people need to get back on their feet. The folks who posted about their experiences are inspirational, but I don’t know if they are typical.
  - gerbilly 7y ago
    > I can understand the perspective that homeless people are better off with some sort of home than the street. But the reality is homelessness is complex, and a flophouse doesn’t provide the support that people need to get back on their feet. I suspect your argument stops at not wanting to live next to SRO's, and that the rest of it is just post hoc rationalization to an emotional reaction. Seriously it breaks down after that. Your first sentence above for example should clue you in. It's not exactly dripping with magnanimity. Homelessness is complex, but who says that you can't house the homeless and provide them support? In the US, with it's byzantine medical and legal environment, where even 'good people' can end up owing six figures unexpectedly, nearly everyone is in danger of becoming homeless. It's especially true now that our society is so fragmented, with everyone leaving behind all their social support to go make a buck elsewhere.
    - Spooky23 7y ago
      With all due respect, you know nothing about me, and nothing about this issue. I'm not talking about homeless shelters, SRO are modern tenements. I worked in this space, including working to set up pilot programs to transition section-8 voucher recipients into homeowners, and helping to advocate for the rights of families stuck in slumlord situations in unsafe apartments. My family and I fundraise and work a couple of days a week in a food pantry about 500 feet from my home that supports folks in our neighborhood. My disagreement that prompted my post is that the factors that drive people to last resort housing, whether that be scummy hotels or SROs are almost always tied to other things where people need some sort of support. If your idea of humanitarian action is sticking people in a room, I understand that but deeply disagree. SROs aren't social services endeavors. They are private enterprises focused on exploiting the desperate and extracting as much money as possible from these folks in minimally viable buildings. Here's an example of one in Brooklyn preying on young people: https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-landlord-turns-desperate-strangers-into-sudden-roommates https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-land...
      - gerbilly 7y ago
        If that's your level of experience with the issue why didn't you lead with that then? Your comment above is getting down-voted into oblivion, and when read in isolation I think you will certainly understand why.
- mixmastamyk 7y ago
  It’s either there or the sidewalk outside, and security guards and cameras are a thing.
- Data_Junkie 7y ago
  Nobody in America will tolerate being around people poorer than themselves unless those people are doing labor for them. That's why we have this problem, rich people live in a deluded state of being intolerant to anything that doesn't make them feel good, because they want their delusions of grandeur to be accepted as reality and because they have the resources and control they make people suffer. That's what this is all about, they don't want to end the suffering because it would challenge their delusions.
  - lawnchair_larry 7y ago
    This isn’t even remotely true. I have no idea what would even lead someone to such a bizarre outlook.
    - Data_Junkie 7y ago
      You having no idea being the key point.

by rsync 7y ago

PopeDotNinja 7y ago

Personally I don't have a problem with poor people living right next to rich people. I think the more we isolate ourselves from each other, the more we lack empathy for each other. Having been homeless, my personal experience is that people who haven't been homeless don't get it at all. The first night I had to think about where to put my stuff, I realized I was not prepared to deal with that.

lawnchair_larry 7y ago
The problem is not poor people living next to rich people. SROs would be fine if they were simply people with very little income who take care of themselves and their community. But you know what actually goes on there.

lawnchair_larry 7y ago

I like how people who have likely never been exposed to SROs are downvoting the truth about them, even when it’s coming from people who have actually lived in them. Nobody wants an SRO near them. In theory, it’s just a small, affordable room, and that sounds fine. The reality is quite different.

Spooky23 7y ago
The reactions to stories about housing attract a visceral reaction on HN, because it’s a real struggle. We all see the world through our own eyes, and even fairly affluent folks struggle with housing costs. SROs are problematic because they aren’t and cannot be communities. They are warehouses for the desperate, and mostly dropping off points. Residents get more isolated. Others can describe that experience better than I. I can understand the perspective that homeless people are better off with some sort of home than the street. But the reality is homelessness is complex, and a flophouse doesn’t provide the support that people need to get back on their feet. The folks who posted about their experiences are inspirational, but I don’t know if they are typical.
- gerbilly 7y ago
  > I can understand the perspective that homeless people are better off with some sort of home than the street. But the reality is homelessness is complex, and a flophouse doesn’t provide the support that people need to get back on their feet. I suspect your argument stops at not wanting to live next to SRO's, and that the rest of it is just post hoc rationalization to an emotional reaction. Seriously it breaks down after that. Your first sentence above for example should clue you in. It's not exactly dripping with magnanimity. Homelessness is complex, but who says that you can't house the homeless and provide them support? In the US, with it's byzantine medical and legal environment, where even 'good people' can end up owing six figures unexpectedly, nearly everyone is in danger of becoming homeless. It's especially true now that our society is so fragmented, with everyone leaving behind all their social support to go make a buck elsewhere.
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    With all due respect, you know nothing about me, and nothing about this issue. I'm not talking about homeless shelters, SRO are modern tenements. I worked in this space, including working to set up pilot programs to transition section-8 voucher recipients into homeowners, and helping to advocate for the rights of families stuck in slumlord situations in unsafe apartments. My family and I fundraise and work a couple of days a week in a food pantry about 500 feet from my home that supports folks in our neighborhood. My disagreement that prompted my post is that the factors that drive people to last resort housing, whether that be scummy hotels or SROs are almost always tied to other things where people need some sort of support. If your idea of humanitarian action is sticking people in a room, I understand that but deeply disagree. SROs aren't social services endeavors. They are private enterprises focused on exploiting the desperate and extracting as much money as possible from these folks in minimally viable buildings. Here's an example of one in Brooklyn preying on young people: https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-landlord-turns-desperate-strangers-into-sudden-roommates https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-land...
    - gerbilly 7y ago
      If that's your level of experience with the issue why didn't you lead with that then? Your comment above is getting down-voted into oblivion, and when read in isolation I think you will certainly understand why.
mixmastamyk 7y ago
It’s either there or the sidewalk outside, and security guards and cameras are a thing.
Data_Junkie 7y ago
Nobody in America will tolerate being around people poorer than themselves unless those people are doing labor for them. That's why we have this problem, rich people live in a deluded state of being intolerant to anything that doesn't make them feel good, because they want their delusions of grandeur to be accepted as reality and because they have the resources and control they make people suffer. That's what this is all about, they don't want to end the suffering because it would challenge their delusions.
- lawnchair_larry 7y ago
  This isn’t even remotely true. I have no idea what would even lead someone to such a bizarre outlook.
  - Data_Junkie 7y ago
    You having no idea being the key point.