Hotel City is a short social and poetic documentary about the struggles of tenants living in SRO (Single Residence Occupancy) hotels and how they are empowering themselves to make changes. SROs have become the housing of last resort, “the first step out of homelessness, and the last step to homelessness.” The movie will be playing at the Roxy Cinema this Sunday at noon and Feb. 12 at 2:15 p.m. as part of SF Indifest.
The conditions in SROs and the communities surrounding them have severely deteriorated over the years. Hotel City uses the testimonies of four SRO tenants that are involved with the Central City SRO Collaborative, a group of SRO tenants and
community members. The Collaborative’s goal is not only to improve the living conditions and safety of SROs, but also to address larger issues facing this community
HISTORY
In the late 90’s, the housing crisis grew so bad that the traditional population of single working people in SROs was joined by those on fixed income, including seniors, couples and families. As the hotels filled up prices grew so high that those on GA could no longer afford a month’s rent. As desperation grew, so did willingness to put up with bad conditions. Even becoming a permanent tenant became hard as landlords
manipulated tenants so they never got tenant rights by playing “musical rooms”.
Add to this the crisis of fires in SROs. Since 1988, more than
1,700 hotel rooms have been lost to fire, most remaining burned out and uninhabitable for years. After such fires, many tenants lose their possessions, all become homeless, and some remain homeless for years.
Tenants and activists have fought together for change in the
Central City area for years, but were stretched thin. We needed a new model. In the Spring of 2001, residential hotel tenants and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic organized to establish the Central City SRO Collaborative.
This film was made in collaboration with Sam Dodge and the
Collaborative. Sam, the director of the Collaborative, is in the film.
For more information and to order tickets, go to http://www.sfindie.com/indiefest05/films/interloping.htm
