By some estimates, there are more than 100,000 illegal single room occupancy units in New York City. Known as SROs, these minuscule apartments are, for many low-income residents, the only affordable housing option in a city with ever rising rents and limited space. Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is touting the potential benefits of officially sanctioned micro-unit apartments, which would create tiny housing for more affluent renters.

In Forefront this week, Mariana Ionova seeks to uncover whether smaller units can solve the affordable housing problem in New York and beyond.

The 60-square-foot room Boubacar Balde calls home is packed to the brim. A low double bed fills most of it, while a mini fridge and a scuffed nightstand crowned with a TV take up the rest. Near the bed, a small portable radiator hums beside a worn foldout table the size of a notebook. In the corner, a stack of newspapers and books supports a rolled-up, blue-and-gold prayer rug. A piece of lined paper taped to the otherwise bare wall reads Fonder Une Famille. Amoureux Dieu. The words remind him, each morning, of his two ambitions: To have a family and to love god.

Balde’s space is one of a dozen rooms in an illegally converted house in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. He moved into the building more than a year ago in a bid to escape an even denser living situation. After legally emigrating from Guinea two years ago, Balde lived in a two-bedroom apartment he shared with five members of his extended family. He and two others slept in one room while a cousin and his young family lived in the other. They lived in shifts — some would work during the day and others at night.

After nearly a year, the 35-year-old taxi driver and former math teacher grew tired of the chaos and decided to move. But like many new immigrants, he faced an ever-rising cost of living in New York City. Even though he worked six nights a week, Balde still couldn’t afford the steep rents.

He finally found a room in an old, narrow brownstone on Bruckner Boulevard, on a block lined with the crumbling facades of dozens of converted houses brimming with tenants. Once a single-family home, the building has since been dissected into singe room occupancy (SRO) units offered at a fraction of the cost of a full apartment. Each of the three floors had four rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom for shared use. At a modest $80 per week, the room was Balde’s most affordable option.

“I don’t have another choice,” Balde said. “That’s why I’m here.”

The home’s illegal conversion means that some of the windows don’t open, several fire exits are blocked and spaces are overcrowded. But most tenants have nowhere to go and are careful not to draw attention to the building’s infractions. A few months ago, an inspector caught up with Balde in front of his building and tried to ask if he lived there. Like most others, Balde knew the right answer.

“If they ask,” he said, “you don’t live here.”

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