The last resort: More and more Americans are calling long-stay motels home

[xchrom]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-last-resort-more-and-more-americans-are-calling-longstay-motels-home-2346963.html

A long way down the US housing ladder, beneath the grisly 'projects' of The Wire and the trailer parks hymned by Eminem, beneath the slums of New Orleans and the ghettos of Detroit, you'll find the long-stay hotel. Cheap, not very cheerful, and pretty much a last resort, these institutions provide four walls and a roof, for a few hundred bucks a month. It's some of the cheapest accommodation you'll find anywhere in the US, aside from a cardboard box.

Long-stay hotels can be found in almost every major American city. They offer none of the privacy of trailer parks, and even less of the permanency. Guests make do with postage stamp-sized rooms, paper-thin walls, and nylon sheets. You'll rarely find them listed in tourist guides, even the section of a Lonely Planet devoted to 'rock-bottom dives'. Staying in one isn't exactly what you might call a holiday. It is, however, an experience. So says Kalpesh Lathigra, whose compelling photo-essay on the Wilmington Hotel in Long Beach, Southern California, is published on these pages.

A British documentary photographer, he stumbled upon the place while looking up relatives during a family holiday to Los Angeles (it is owned by his uncle, Bachu), and has since re-visited for extended periods, building close relationships with its most colourful and well-established residents.

[cutlassmama]

1. It's one step up from being homeless. A lot of people don't have first, last, and deposit

saved up to get a place when they get foreclosed or evicted. This is what America has come to...this and tents/RV's. I've seen A LOT of ads recently of people wanting cheap tents and/or RV's. Really, really sad.

[xchrom]

2. indeed. nt

[sam11111]

3. RR cut 77% of Section 8 housing rent aid in the early 80'S

He is to blame

As one activist said
"If we provide (good) housing, there are no hmless (or long s. Hotels)"

Ignore RW blameshifting.

Good housing is the bottom line below all the factors they stir up.

RR is to blame.

Jobs For All... Permanent WPA....

http://www.njfac.org

[ejpoeta]

4. well the fact is, it's hard to get a job if you don't have an address.

i guess at least at a motel you have an address, but it's hard to get out of because you need more than you pay out to save for things like deposits for an apartment.

[marmar]

5. k/r .... fascinating

[BeyondGeography]

6. Dignified people that our media avoids

Rec'd

[sam11111]

7. all rent should apply to purchase and garner portable equity

Like mortages.

Rent today is an accounting concept trick.

Another... eg. "Payment on mortage applies only to interest"

Just a math deception trick. There are DOZENS of such tricks. Corporatists love them. Deregulation released the tricks anew.

[grasswire]

8. interesting concept

rent as portable equity. Never thought of that before. Maybe also storage space rental could apply to that rent equity account.

[sam11111]

12. and that too is a good idea... storage units

Nationalize all housing for starters-- who wants Grump or Hazel as house dictator?

[trud]

11. sam11111

Not. I rented my house when I was moving. It was a disaster. It cost a fortune to get the deadbeat tenant out and I lost months of rental income when he was not paying.

I will never rent to anyone again, so now there's less housing stock.

You seriously think people will rent their property if doing so means they lose some ownership of it?

[Fearless]

9. It is so sad that this happens in America.

[givemebackmycountry]

10. Been there - Done That - albeit years ago...

Weekly room - anywhere.
Denver in the winter in the early 80's was not exactly conducive to being on the streets.
After a week of sleeping in Stapleton Airport, the weekly room was a MUST come January/February.

[w0nderer]

13. k&r n/t