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Post by Formerly homeless on Jan 1, 2015 20:51:35 GMT -8
I was homeless in Chicago for a couple years in the late 80's. One of the places I would stay at, when I had day labor to pay for it, was the "New Ritz Hotel". It was a former warehouse that was subdivided with plywood walls and chicken wire ceilings into cubicles barely larger than a cot, plus a little room to get dressed. It wasn't much, but it was cheap. I think I paid about $7 per night for rent. Weekly and monthly rates were discounted, but I never had enough to pay for more than a couple days at a time.
Why aren't there places like this in Southern California? With the recent recession, it shouldn't be hard to find a suitable building to use.
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Post by bittersweet on Jan 29, 2015 10:57:44 GMT -8
I was homeless in Chicago for a couple years in the late 80's. One of the places I would stay at, when I had day labor to pay for it, was the "New Ritz Hotel". It was a former warehouse that was subdivided with plywood walls and chicken wire ceilings into cubicles barely larger than a cot, plus a little room to get dressed. It wasn't much, but it was cheap. I think I paid about $7 per night for rent. Weekly and monthly rates were discounted, but I never had enough to pay for more than a couple days at a time. Why aren't there places like this in Southern California? With the recent recession, it shouldn't be hard to find a suitable building to use. Pretty much what the shelters are like here, dormitory atmosphere. San Diego has many "S.R.O.s" (Single Room Occupancy). These are usually old hotels with small rooms. Many of them no longer do daily rates, but when you factor in the time difference since the 80's, they go for about the same on a weekly or monthly basis. I've heard tell that you can still get a room for under $30/night. For that price, it's pretty much guaranteed that you will have to share a bathroom and whatever there is as far as a kitchen, if any. In my opinion, this approach is part of the problem, not part of the solution. People just aren't meant to live like that. The bathrooms and common areas are often neglected by the landlords, and almost all of them I know of have made some sort of "bed bug watch list" on the internet. In shelters, you have the same issues, only worse because the quarters are so close that if one person is sick, everyone is sick, so almost everyone is sick almost all of the time. |
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Post by jomibo on Feb 3, 2015 22:47:42 GMT -8
...I stayed , a bit , at a similar chicken wire joint in the a twenties or thirties of Manhattan in the latish 90s when I was there . It advertised in the Village Voice as A " men's residence " or similar then .
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