Single Room Occupancy (SRO)
From East Broadway, Chinatown
SROs
SRO stands for Single Room Occupancy. Many of these rooms exist illegaly in basements along East Broadway. They usually consist of a many bunkbeds crowded into a room with a possible hot plate for cooking. Besides for being illegal, these rooms pose a very big fire hazard. For example, there was a recent fire in the Bronx resulting from an SRO. Because there were no proper fire exists, most of its occupants tragically died. The FDNY's job along E. Broadway is to periodically do building inspections along E. Broadway to insure that each one is properly equipped with fire safety devices and exists. If they fail to meet the FDNYs rules and regulations, the building is immediately evacuated. According to the FDNY, the number of SROs along E. Broadway has declined over the last decade or so.