MetaChat - NY Hotels for Poor Are Under Pressure to Change

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27 July 2005

NY Hotels for Poor Are Under Pressure to Change Along the elegant side streets of the upper west side, the few remaining Single Room Occupancy Hotels for poor New Yorkers are under pressure to change. SRO owners are finding their prime locations can be marketed as youth hostels for young foreign travelers. And poor tenants who need a place to stay say they are being harassed into leaving.→[More:]

post by: matteo at: 15:35 | 3 comments

The bed bugs have infiltrated several corridors of the hotel. JR says he’s been waiting two months for an exterminator. Other tenants sprinkle their doorways and floors with boric acid powder to try to keep the pests out. While Gellert has another place to go, low income tenants have few alternatives and want to preserve their affordable housing. JR says he receives a 600 dollar a month disability check and cannot afford more than the 249 dollars a month he pays in rent:

JR: What I would love and this will help anybody that they wouldn’t treat people like…as a piece of dirt. All you want for your little spot in other words, is to live as normal as possible.

posted by matteo 27 July | 15:36

SRO's have always been a scandal. The monthly cost to the city per person or family is very high, compared to the quality that the beneficiary gets.

posted by sarah connor 27 July | 15:51

yup...and there used to be tons of them---one was demolished to make room for the new Conde Nast bldg in times sq., killing an occupant bec. of the construction.

posted by amberglow 27 July | 20:04

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