> “I can’t imagine what it would look like today with a communal kitchen shared by strangers…”
Hope you never have to, but people have a way of working together nevertheless. Each place is its own kingdom, but with similar ethos—mind your own business. Clean up your $#!t. People either get along, or they have problems. Some people stay a long time, and others take their cues from the long-time-people. Others are non-conforming trouble makers and will not be staying.
Yes. I lived in an SRO.
However, the “moral panic” comes from the outside—- rational or irrational judgment of outsiders who pass laws and zoning rules which impose their own moral codes and judgment. Well meaning, corrupt or just plain ignorant, the result is the same. (It’s like people who complain at the election polls about voter IDs. They’re privileged people who _already have_ driver licenses, because they own cars and drive everyday. They simply can’t imagine the difficulty of having, keeping or maintaining valid ID. As a result, they confuse voter enfranchisement with the privilege to drive.)
Add economic development and 100 years, shake and bake. Poof. Today SROs may not be available on the same scale as 100 years ago, but they’re here and there and a sight better than roach infested rooms above a dive bar.
Hope you never have to, but people have a way of working together nevertheless. Each place is its own kingdom, but with similar ethos—mind your own business. Clean up your $#!t. People either get along, or they have problems. Some people stay a long time, and others take their cues from the long-time-people. Others are non-conforming trouble makers and will not be staying.
Yes. I lived in an SRO.
However, the “moral panic” comes from the outside—- rational or irrational judgment of outsiders who pass laws and zoning rules which impose their own moral codes and judgment. Well meaning, corrupt or just plain ignorant, the result is the same. (It’s like people who complain at the election polls about voter IDs. They’re privileged people who _already have_ driver licenses, because they own cars and drive everyday. They simply can’t imagine the difficulty of having, keeping or maintaining valid ID. As a result, they confuse voter enfranchisement with the privilege to drive.)
Add economic development and 100 years, shake and bake. Poof. Today SROs may not be available on the same scale as 100 years ago, but they’re here and there and a sight better than roach infested rooms above a dive bar.