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The Flexible House: The Housing Backlog and the Persistence of Lodging, 1891–1951

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Richard Harris
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Lodging was once common. In 1900 about one-quarter of U.S. households contained a lodger or lodging family. Almost as many more took one in at some point in the life of the household. Since then, rising incomes have enabled more people to maintain their own household. Today, lodging is quite rare and is confined largely to the poor.

A good deal has been written about lodging, mostly by social historians concerned with its implications for daily life. We have been told that lodiging was part of the immigrant experience, that it helped even out household income over the life cycle, that it augmented the clout of women within the household, and that in larger cities it supported a subculture among single men and women (Modell and Hareven 1973).

Type
Articles
Information
Social Science History , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , Spring 1994 , pp. 31 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1994 

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