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Comment by balderdash | Hacker News Reader

I’d add that building more is not the only solution to increasing supply: some societal and zoning changes, like bringing back boarding houses would make a meaningful impact on supply. Apparently 1/3-1/2 of urban dwellers either rented a room or were a boarder [1] in the 18th century.

[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_house

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Seeking to return to the living conditions of the 18th century is a bold policy position!

Well, yeah, what century's living conditions does homelessness correspond to?

19th Century Victorian London - the time of coffin beds and T'penny hangers (hard benches with a rope to hang your body across as you slept sitting upright).

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/02/homeles...

https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/the-homeles...

I needed a visual, and this site[0] has a picture of a two-penny hangover. Which looks to be just a rope hanging over some hay.

[0]: https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Two-Penny-Hangover/

That's the one .. there was a whole range of "sleeping" accomadations for the homeless in Victorian London and I muddled two together .. situp benches & a rope to drape over - my bad.

Welcome to the literal "Dickensian Aspect" ref'd in the fifth season of The Wire.

It beats living in a tent below an underpass.

There is wild huge gap between what zoning enforces and "living conditions of the 18th century". You can even ease on zoning while creating better living environment then currently exists.

.....or how millions of college students live every day! Which....is the preferred living situation one year, and inhumane the next????

Many people will happily sleep in a warm, safe room instead of a tent in a park. Even if they have to share a bathroom.

This kind of housing is still common in NYC, mostly in Queens. It’s all under the table and obviously illegal, but it’s the most affordable option in a prohibitively expensive city. I would say most are run by slum lords who are not dealing with tenants fairly in someway, for example price gouging or prejudicial application processes (no Muslims, must be Japanese, must speak Spanish, etc.).

The city has tried to squash these because they’re dangerous. During the last major floods hundreds were injured and many died due to these basement boarding units flooding.

I agree with sibling posters when I say making these more prevalent would be a step backwards. Source: I used to live in one!

Most people (on this website) likely have lived in dorms at school, which are not too different than a boarding house.

There's nothing inherently unsafe about boarding houses, and they're clearly filling a market need. Why not regulate them for safety and fairness?

That's effectively the same as "build more" since you're adding additional housing slots to the market.

That's pre-industrial revolution. No way this makes sense today.

Beats sleeping in the park.

Airbnb nicely fills the modern day boarding house market, although it's slightly more expensive than the equivalent 18th century room for rent.

Slightly? Not where I live. The fees are always insane. Like cleaning fees that are 50-100% of the nightly cost

I neglected the /s, oh well, I'm in complete agreement with you :)

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