Single-room occupancy (SRO) is a type of low-cost housing typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes, or single adults who like a minimalist lifestyle, who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a small desk.[1] SRO units are rented out as permanent residence and/or primary residence [2] to individuals, within a multi-tenant building where tenants share a kitchen, toilets or bathrooms. SRO units range from 7 to 13 square metres (80 to 140 sq ft).[3][1] In some instances, contemporary units may have a small refrigerator, microwave, or sink.[1]
SROs are a form of affordable housing, in some cases for formerly or otherwise homeless individuals.[4] SRO units are the least expensive form of non-subsidized rental housing, with median rents even in New York City ranging from $450 to $705 per month in 2013.[5] The term is primarily used in Canada and US. Since the 1970s and 1980s, there has been an increasing displacement of SRO units aimed at low-income earners in a process of gentrification, with SRO facilities being sold and turned into condominiums.[6] Between 1955 and 2013, almost one million SRO units were eliminated in the US by regulation, conversion or demolition.[7]
The term SRO refers to the fact that the tenant rents a single room, as opposed to a full flat (apartment). While roommates informally sharing an apartment may also have a bedroom and share a bathroom and kitchen, an SRO tenant leases the SRO unit individually.[8] SRO units may be provided in a rooming house, apartment building, or in illegal conversions of private homes into many small SRO rooms. There is a variety of levels of quality, ranging from a "cubicle with a wire mesh ceiling", at the lowest end, to small hotel rooms or small studio apartments without bathrooms, at the higher end.[9] They may also be referred to as "SRO hotels", which acknowledges that many of the buildings are old hotels that are in a poor state of repair and maintenance.[10] The initialism SRO has also been stated to mean "single resident only".[6] Or sarcastically "Standing Room Only". The terms "residential hotel"[2] or "efficiency unit" are also used to refer to some SROs.[11]
- ^ a b c Levander, Caroline Field and Guterl, Matthew Pratt. Hotel Life: The Story of a Place Where Anything Can Happen. UNC Press Books, 2015. p. 130
- ^ a b "Definition of Residential hotel/single room occupancy". Law Insider. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ccrocwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Single-room occupancy hotels disappearing across Chicago. Chicago Tribune
- ^ Sullivan, Brian J.; Burke, Jonathan (2013). "Single-Room Occupancy Housing in New York City: The Origins and Dimensions of a Crisis". CUNY Law Review. 17 (1): 117. doi:10.31641/clr170104.
- ^ a b Beckett, Katherine; Herbert, Steve. Banished: The New Social Control In Urban America. Oxford University Press, 2009. p. 27
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ionovawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Considering SRO Housing in New York City and Beyond". www.huduser.gov. PD&R Edge. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
- ^ BSullivan & Burke, p. 115
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
chapter1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Wright, Gwendolyn. USA: Modern Architectures in History. Reaktion Books, Feb. 15, 2008
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