The Return of the Flophouse

I live in Albany, NY, the state capitol. I found a studio apartment in a nice, secure building, for reasonable rent, and within walking distance to work. The building is condominiums and many of the tenants live in their apartments. One person who bought a condo as an investment rented their studio to a friend who was down and out. The friend immediately took in five or six "tenants" of questionable character. Eventually, the tenants association decided enough is enough and had the man and all his roommates evicted.
A friend in Los Angeles wrote me about a situation in the building where she lives. The property owner showed up at her door last night and brought a man who recently got out of jail (we will call him Joe) who rents out cots in his one bedroom apt in the building. Joe doesn't even live in the building and doesn't even have a key to his own apartment. The other tenants have no idea who rents the cots. The landlord, described by my friend as a belligerent man, confronted Joe in front of my friend's apartment and told him the tenants were complaining. The landlord said he wants the transients out immediately. Joe said he has to give his people 30-days notice. The description my friend sent of the landlord's reaction is not worthy of repetition. Put yourself in his shoes and use your imagination.
Renting floor space or cots to short-term tenants is equivalent to running a skid row hotel in a residential zone. In the 30s, they called them "flophouses". Joe's idea is similar – to provide a lot of beds in a small space for a lot of people. He is technically the "tenant", but doesn't live there and doesn't even have a key. He has a racket going. I wonder if he actually makes money.
In any event, my friend doesn't want this going on in her building. Who knows the mentality or the desperation of the people who need to rent a cot to have a place to sleep.
When I lived in Sarasota, I rode my bike to work and passed a park-like area with lots of trees and high grass. The homeless slept there at night. The grass shielded them from view so the police, who knew they were there, didn't bother them. If I rode by early in the morning, I saw the homeless folks starting to rise up out of the tall grass like human plants. There were flophouses in Sarasota but they filled up fast.
Sarasota is one of the wealthiest cities in the US, but because of their climate they have one of the highest homeless rates in the US. During the day, those who could afford it went to storage sheds to hang out with their few possessions. Not everyone could afford the cost of the flophouse or storage shed so they wandered aimlessly during the day and retired to the field at night.
In Albany, I see the storage-shed concept in practice. On one of the side streets I walk down, there is a row of garages in a single-story building. Two people run a perpetual, daily garage sale out of one of the units. I see a little old woman lift the door to another unit, pull out a battered lounge chair, and spend a good part of her day sitting there.
It's a sad sign of the times. There are rental signs everywhere and vacant buildings galore but many people have to find flophouse style accommodations because they are jobless and homeless.
The situation in my building was resolved, but I wonder where all those men moved after they were evicted. I hope the situation in my friend's building is resolved peacefully and without her having to be involved as a complainant or witness. Even more, I hope the situation in the United States improves so that flophouses are not necessary.