One reason companies have a hard time attracting employees these days is the shortage of appropriate housing nearby. For young, mobile workers, rent is too high, a year-long lease is a risk, and in some areas, there just aren't any units available at all. Where did such people live in the past? Up until the mid-20th century, many of them lived in hotels. Not necessarily expensive hotels, but places you could move into for an open-ended length of time, without having to purchase furniture or kitchenware. At one time, resort hotels became a home for families all summer long. Grand hotels accommodated both travelers and long-term residents who didn't want to be bothered with running a house (think Tennessee Williams). Rooming houses were convenient homes for singles (think Barney Fife). And SROs (single room occupancy) buildings were a place to live for those with even less money. Such living arrangements were just fine for many kinds of folks, and offered both services and flexibility. In fact, a lot of the services came from people who lived there. And such facilities had a smaller footprint than either single family houses or apartment buildings.
What killed hotel living? Several factors played into its demise: social judgement, the rise of suburbia, zoning laws, building codes, leases, rent control, and the fact that such accommodations were never really seen as housing. Those are a lot of factors to overcome if we were to bring hotel living back. Read about the rise and fall of hotel living at Slate. -via Digg
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