Brief History of Flophouses

Flophouses, single room occupancy (SRO), lodging houses, etc. existed in major cities urban centres. The theory behind SRO hotels is "that they are residential stations where vulnerable people who are "well" enough to live apart from institutional supervision can begin the process of reentry into community life." (Hamburger, Robert. All the Lonely People: Life in a Single Room Occupancy Hotel)
After WWII, everything changed. City housing codes changed, social and housing programs were created, and the industrialization of home building took off with the 'american dream'. Returning vets, who were once flop dwellers, were now housed by the government. Real estate speculation and building conversion drove a good number of men into the streets leaving just a few SRO hotels operating today.
"Part prison, part way station, part shelter, part psychiatric hospital, part shooting gallery, part old-age home, each hotel has distinctive character and clientel." (Isay, David. Flophouse: Life on the Bowery)

Images of Home
Rosanne Haggerty reinvents the flophouse as a clean, well-lighted place. metropolis article

Making a Flophouse a Home, and a Decent One at That nytimes article