Are boarding houses an idea whose time has come back? I think they are.

[raccoon]

No, I wouldn't want to live in one either. But as there are more and more crummy wage jobs,
it seems like this would be one way to alleviate the problem of affordable housing.

I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone that with so many low-wage jobs as there are today, there are lots
of people who can't afford rent and utilities, not to mention other monthly bills such as phone, cable, and Internet.

Boarding houses would be one way to alleviate that. It seems like the landlord/landlady could charge a person
less than they'd have to pay for rent, utilities, etc., on a small apartment.

However. However. Two big buts here. (1) Landlord would have to CAREFULLY screen his tenants.
(2) Americans are used to a lot of privacy. Would they be satisfied with just their bedroom and bathroom, and
having to share other rooms with other people? (Yes, I know people have to do that in nursing homes. Probably
one reason why most people dread the thought of going there.)

Oh, I just thought of another but. (3) Zoning restrictions. Too bad, I thought, what a great idea of people with huge
houses to help them pay the mortgage.

I posted this before....a few years ago. I wonder what people may think about this now. Maybe in some area,
people are starting up boarding houses.

[Enrique]

1. you might be surprised

go to Craig's list, housing, "rooms/shared", people are doing this

[mopinko]

2. communes

i think us old hippies are gonna fall into communes. i bought a vacant lot on my block, and am starting a microfarm. i have someone tell me about every day that they wish they could do it.

[GObamaGO]

4. Definitely

Communes and collectives are the way to go.

I kind of envision a 10 acre farm, and 3-5 families living on the land in individual spaces all participating in the operation of the farm.

[pinto]

3. We have a few here. Some older repurposed motels/hotels. Some big houses renting room by room.

All with common areas. All seem to be full. Town also has a network of community gardens managed by the Parks Dept. We could use more - waiting list for each of them as is.

[Tanuki]

5. The "Golden Girls" tv situation makes a lot of sense,

with a few people sharing space, expenses, chores, and resources.

[CreekDog]

6. there are lots of these in San Francisco (SRO's) and they are rough

it's a rough way to live, in a bad neighborhood, in old buildings, without all the necessary facilities.

step up from being homeless and a step up from a shelter, but I know people who have lived in them (and I've visited one once) and they are fairly miserable.

and lots of people in my neighborhood (which is a decent neighborhood) are boarders. it's so expensive here and people aren't making the wages they need to keep up.

we are falling behind other social democracies, because we dropped the "social" part.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. There's no inherent reason that SROs should be like that though.

Places like YWCAs still maintain SROs that are safe, clean, and inexpensive. It used to be that similar organizations were common particularly for single women seeking to live in large cities far from families.

It's always been more of a transitional housing rather than permanent residence but some people did live for decades in such SROs. The SRO model can be a highly effective and inexpensive way to house single people who don't have the means to afford larger units and who for whatever reasons can't find a good fit in a house or apartment sharing situation.

Part of the reason housing is so expensive in our area is that congregate housing is still a fairly unusual model for the SF Bay area -- even condos are more of the townhouse variety than the higher density low or high rise types. The extreme affordability gap has changed attitudes somewhat and we are seeing more high density developments but nowhere near the number of units needed to address the affordability gap.

However, I agree with you that the underlying problem is we dropped the "social" part. Both wage stagnation and relying on the private sector alone to produce new housing are key factors in the housing crunch.

[CreekDog]

11. That's right. If the conditions were acceptable, then it wouldn't be mostly for the down and out

but because of zoning and because our areas of poverty tend to cluster, certain modes of housing, no matter how practical, end up only associated with one economic group. hopefully that will change.

[mainer]

7. Fewer and fewer people getting married or finding partners

and boarding houses make sense for a lot of single men as they get older. It's sad how many people don't have family connections, and are disconnected from the rest of society. Too many people are "bowling alone" these days.

[HooptieWagon]

8. Yes,might be seeing more of it in cities.

The suburban McMansions might be a hard sell... possible zoning issues and lack of public transportation.

[kskiska]

9. I've had the same thought

after reading quite a bit on life in the 1800s. Back then, even the VP of the United States, Andrew Johnson, lived in a boarding house in Washington. Whole families lived in them, and moved from one to another quite often. Of course, board included meals also.