Orange County Perpective : Guide to Building SROs May Help the Homeless

A task force in Orange County--where “affordable” and “housing” rarely are uttered in the same phrase--has produced a regional guide to building so-called single-room-occupancy hotels that may be the first such manual of its kind in the nation.

It’s ironic, because there is virtually no such housing anywhere in Orange County. But it’s also a hopeful sign in a county where there are an estimated 10,000 homeless people. Recognizing this serious problem, the task force set about to come up with some ways to help. It deserves credit for creating a step-by-step guide for cities and counties that want to assist private builders to construct low-cost housing. Now it’s up to the county and each city to work together to follow through on the proposals.

First, an explanation is in order. Just what is an SRO? It’s an acronym for “single-room occupancy,” a unit designed for one adult, often on a temporary basis. Sometimes there is a private bath or kitchen, but it is not unusual to share those facilities with other residents. In days past, these rooms were almost exclusively located in “flophouses” or “fleabag hotels.” Rents were dirt cheap, sometimes with the dirt to go with it. Although SROs traditionally housed mostly alcoholics or transients, there were also many disabled or elderly people who just couldn’t afford anything better.

Today, the term SRO has been expanded to include refurbished hotels or even new residential facilities that provide individual rooms large enough for one person. SROs’ reputation has also been spiffed up; now they are recognized as a sorely needed housing stock. In Orange County, for example, county officials say about a third of the estimated 10,000 homeless people have jobs that pay too little to afford a roof over their heads. SROs would provide at least some of them housing until they could move on to something better.

While many cities and counties recognize the need, however, they can ill afford to build such housing themselves. The value of the new SRO guidebook is that it outlines how local governments can work together to help builders construct low-cost housing at a profit.

For example, SROs may qualify for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants, or cities can use their powers of “friendly condemnation” to help builders acquire property for SROs.

Also, cities or counties can reduce local fees or employ public financing techniques, including “leveraging” public resources, to attract private capital.

This information is not just theoretical. Many cities--Atlanta, San Jose and, in particular, San Diego--have initiated successful programs to get privately financed SRO facilities built. Looking much like dormitories, these SROs provide decent, clean and safe dwellings for single adults.

Orange County’s task force took its cue from San Diego’s success.

Led by Orange County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton and Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, the task force included representatives of 17 cities, as well as the Building Industry Assn. and the BIA’s Coalition for the Homeless, the Orange County Transit District, the Orange County division of the League of Cities and the Orange Empire chapter of the International Conference of Building Officials.

The result was the task force guide.

Stanton believes that an SRO hotel could be in operation in Orange County within a year.

That depends, however, on what the county and its cities do with the recommendations made by the task force.

Taken seriously, they can assist builders to provide this much-needed low-cost rental housing.

Ignored, they will become just another collection of good ideas that will gather dust while Orange County’s homeless problem grows worse.