Why boardinghouses could make a comeback

June 2, 2026

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5 min read

On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a seven-story brick building takes up an entire block. Inside, 77-year-old Vera Hill lives in a room with a sofa, a recliner, a wide-screen TV, and photos of her family on the walls. She has lived there for 15 years. Her space does not have a kitchen. "I would love to have an apartment with a kitchen," she says. But she is not complaining. Vera lives in what is called a single-room occupancy building, or SRO — a dorm-like boarding house that offers a private room with shared facilities. These buildings were once everywhere in American cities, providing the cheapest rung on the housing ladder. Then, in many places, they were effectively banned. This episode of The Indicator from Planet Money traces the rise and fall of the boarding house, and asks whether bringing it back could help solve homelessness.

The missing rung on the housing ladder

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What you'll learn

1 (00:11) **Introducing a living solution to homelessness** - The episode begins in an upper west side Manhattan building that offers clues for reducing homelessness.
2 (01:10) **What is a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) building?** - Vera lives in an SRO, described as a dorm, long-term hotel, or boarding house.
3 (02:58) **Vera's path to the boarding house** - Vera worked at Mount Sinai, rising to nurse aide, but struggled with New York rent in her 60s.
4 (03:58) **The historical prevalence of SROs** - Reporter Rebecca Baird-Remba explains that in the 1950s, NYC had over 200,000 SRO units, housing more than 10% of the rental stock.
5 (04:29) **The range and cost of boarding houses** - SROs covered a wide spectrum, from high-end hotels to cheap cubicles with chicken wire roofs.
6 (05:17) **The backlash and destruction of SROs** - By the 1950s, many SROs were run-down, leading to a perception that they caused disease and crime.
7 (06:26) **The peak of destruction and a key event** - The 1970s saw a million SRO rooms eliminated or converted.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Rebecca Baird-Remba

Show Notes

There is a burgeoning effort across the U.S. to revive boardinghouses, aka single room occupancy units or SROs, as a solution to the housing crisis. But what happened to them in the first place? We track the disappearance of the first rung of the housing ladder.

Fact-checking by Vito Emanuel.

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