in the 1930s and 1940s, "rooming or boarding houses had been taken for granted as respectable places for students, single workers, immigrants, and newlyweds to live when they left home or came to the city". in toronto, rooming houses were common in the 1930s, during the great depression, because "wealthy homeowners" who had guest houses would rent out empty rooms to be able to keep their homes. after wwii, the city ensured that rooming house spaces were available for returning soldiers. in 1949, a sociologist called a los angeles rooming house neighbourhood a "universe of anonymous transients." since traditional class roles were based around home and family, residents in rooming houses did not fit into working class, middle class or upper class patterns; instead, they were in a sort of "social and cultural limbo", with many hoping to rise.