Nobody knows exactly how many residential hotels exist. Nobody really cares. They blend into the city environment, only recognisable by their discrete plaques 'Residential hotel - rooms let by the month'. The reality is often more sordid than the bohemian and artistic image of such places may have led us to believe: instability, solitude, poverty and insalubrity are often the hallmarks of the residential hotel. These are not hostels, nor are they ( more ...)

Nobody knows exactly how many residential hotels exist. Nobody really cares. They blend into the city environment, only recognisable by their discrete plaques 'Residential hotel - rooms let by the month'. The reality is often more sordid than the bohemian and artistic image of such places may have led us to believe: instability, solitude, poverty and insalubrity are often the hallmarks of the residential hotel. These are not hostels, nor are they within the low-income housing bracket. Here, you pay your room at full price. It's better than being on the street. But the question remains: 'Why can't these people have a 'normal' home?' (Report realized in 2001)