Due to the large amount of people who are trying to move into San Francisco, there are also a large amount of residential hotels to solve the (mostly) temporary housing situations. Some people just make their hotel room a "home," while others stay anywhere from a week to a few months inhabiting the space.

Most residential hotels are paid weekly, while some set-up a monthly payment plan after the first month has been paid on-time each week. A typical hotel provides a dresser, bed, and in-room sink, while the shower and toilet are communal. (There are always exceptions, though. Some residential hotels provide no furniture and some have private bathrooms.) They are also known as Single room occupancy(SRO) and Flophouse.