# What, exactly, is a "flophouse?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374 "2014-07-17T17:01:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/21 "2014-07-18T19:45:35Z")
I lived in one in the early eighties. One small room, one small window, no cooking allowed, and the bathroom was one floor down at the other end of the hall. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/22 "2014-07-18T22:49:38Z")
I am still waiting for the obligatory Monty Python quote:) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/23 "2014-07-18T23:54:59Z")
[If this site is to be believed](http://www.chicagosubhousing.com/page/SRO+Hotels), there are around 3 dozen SROs (single room, shared bathroom) open in the city of Chicago as of a year ago, not even counting the ones in the suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/24 "2014-07-19T00:05:30Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > The key word is “historically”, as the term comes up regularly in references to movies and life several decades ago it seems fairly rare currently. I doubt if those type places are very economically viable now–considering city and state regulations on one hand and the limited income of the potential clientele. Instead the clientele (if they can’t afford normal housing) are either in homeless shelters, cars or homeless. [http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/City-ask-Judge-to-close-Heritage-House-Inn/d/story/6DF\_ZQSlrk6gniSnYimWPw](http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/City-ask-Judge-to-close-Heritage-House-Inn/d/story/6DF_ZQSlrk6gniSnYimWPw) Here in Little Rock, Arkansas we’ve got the Heritage House Inn which is most definitely a flop house. And despite the linked article it’s still in business. I make no claims as to the economic viability of flop houses everywhere but they still fill a niche in some places. I love this review I picked up about the Heritage House Inn. “If you are a citizen of Little Rock that has come across hard times and are looking for a cheap place to stay while you get back on your feet, then this might be the place for you. If you are a road weary traveler looking for a place to stop for the night, and all other hotels in a 10 mile radius are full, then you might be better off to drive further down the road.” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/25 "2014-07-20T01:49:05Z")
There are also rooming houses, which are individual rooms that can be rented by the week with less hassle than renting a conventional apartment. In Montreal many have been lost to gentrification, but policymakers are starting to realize that they’re an important echelon in the housing stock between shelters etc. and proper apartments, that many people need in order to reboot their lives: [Montreal's disappearing rooming houses - Spacing Montreal | Spacing Montreal](http://spacing.ca/montreal/2010/03/31/montreals-disappearing-rooming-houses/) ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/26 "2014-07-20T04:53:28Z")
Twilight Zone did a bit of an actor visiting a “flophouse” to find a particularly badly deformed man, whose face he copied for a performance\*. It was depicted as a large room with one burly guy at a counter, with floor space as however the patrons wanted to arrange themselves - 4’x7’ or so. No cots, no blankets. - - being the Twilight Zone, he was unable to remove the makeup - he would look like the derelict for the rest of his life. In desperation he runs to the flophouse and finds the guy - who now has the actor’s face - and is dead. Cute proposition, no? Ugly and alive, or handsome but dead? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/27 "2014-07-20T06:33:31Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > [If this site is to be believed](http://www.chicagosubhousing.com/page/SRO+Hotels), there are around 3 dozen SROs (single room, shared bathroom) open in the city of Chicago as of a year ago, not even counting the ones in the suburbs. Right, so I don’t think the term _flophouse_ necessarily has come to simply refer to an SRO. Some people use it that way, but that’s probably because they’re not that familiar with SROs, and they conflate the two things. A flophouse is not meant to be anything more than a place to sleep. An SRO, on the other hand, for many, is the best that they can make under the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/28 "2014-07-20T12:40:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Not so fast. > > When I left home for NYC back in 1964, I arrived at the bus station late at night, and spent the night in a nearby flop house. I had my own room, which consisted of a bed that was smaller than a twin, and about a foot of space between the bed and the opposite wall. The walls were metal, painted battleship gray, and seemed to amplify every sound. There was a bare light bulb in the ceiling that was always on. There was a communal bathroom and shower. It couldn’t have cost more than a buck or two. > > I have no idea who the other occupants were, or why they were there. I was there to get some sleep and take a shower. Luckily I got a job the next day, and I was given an advance, so I could move “up” to the Y. > > All in all, those were good days. Have you ever written about that here or done an “Ask the…” thread about your experiences? I’d love to hear more. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/29 "2014-07-20T14:18:32Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > YMCAs were established mainly as a cleaner, safer alternative to flop houses, but you had to be sober, and you had to listen to a sermon or two. In big cities, YMCAs still have (tiny) rooms to rent on a daily basis to people who are essentially homeless. But in most of the US, “Ys” are just a type of gym franchise. Just wanted to add my 2 cents-the Y in my city in PA still has the dorms. Communal showers, tiny rooms. It’s a mix of people fallen on hard times some who swandived onto them, with a few who would be homeless if someone wasn’t paying for them. A few bad incidents that I’ve heard of, but in general they use the gym, the small computer room and keep to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374/30 "2014-07-20T16:07:50Z")
The US Army put me up for one night in the downtown Pittsburgh Y way back when. I was there with several other recruits who had been given bus tickets and Y vouchers in order to report for our induction physicals. Only time as a civilian that I can remember sharing lodgings with a total stranger. I slept very little. We had to be at the federal building at some militarily early hour, so wake up came at 4. We were instructed to shower before reporting. There was, literally, an audience of seedy looking older men while we showered. Breakfast, provided by the Y, was bland and non-descript. Definitely no more than 2 stars in the Michelin guide overall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-flophouse/693374.md?page=1)