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Barbara Peraza-Garcia is from Venezuela.
芭芭拉·佩拉扎·加西亚（Barbara Peraza-Garcia）来自委内瑞拉。
She lives in a single-room apartment in Seattle, Washington with her family.
她和家人住在华盛顿州西雅图市的一套单间公寓里。
The family includes her partner and their two small children.
家里有她的伴侣和两个年幼的孩子。
They do not have much space, only 17 square meters.
他们的房子不大，只有 17 平方米。
But they are happy for now.
但他们现在很幸福。
"It's warm. We can cook (for) ourselves.
“这里很温暖。 我们可以自己做饭。
We have a private bathroom. It's quiet," she said.
我们有一间独立的浴室。 这里很安静，”她说。
"We can be here as a family now."
“我们现在可以一家人住在这里了。”
Peraza-Garcia and her family left Venezuela to escape crime and so she could receive medication for a kidney problem.
佩拉扎·加西亚和家人离开委内瑞拉是为了避开犯罪活动，也是为了让她能够买到治疗肾病的药物。
They can only pay for a small living space, but it is less costly than most small living spaces in American cities.
他们只能支付一个小居室的费用，但他们的公寓比美国城市的大多数小居室都便宜。
It is $900 per month, but that is about $500 less than traditional small apartments known as studios, which are slightly larger.
这里的月租金为900美元，但比面积稍大的传统小型公寓（即单间公寓）便宜500美元左右。
Most single-room apartments in the United States disappeared after the end of World War II when many people left cities for new suburbs.
二战结束后，美国许多人离开城市去往新的郊区，大多数单间公寓也随之消失。
The Furman Center is part of New York University.
弗曼中心（The Furman Center）隶属于纽约大学。
It supports research into real property and city policy.
它支持对不动产和城市政策的研究。
It produced research that showed New York City lost 70,000 single room housing units between the first part of the 1900s and 2014.
该中心的研究显示，从20世纪上半叶到2014年，纽约市减少了7 万套单间住房。
At the same time, real estate companies built new city housing, but the developers did not center their work on small living spaces.
与此同时，房地产公司也建造了新的城市住房，但开发商并没有把工作重心放在小型居住空间上。
In recent years, single people needed to find roommates and share two- or three-bedroom apartments in cities if they did not have much money.
近年来，城市里的单身人士如果没有太多钱，就需要寻找室友，合租两居室或三居室的公寓。
Now, however, many American cities are worried about increasing living costs and homelessness.
然而现在，美国许多城市都在担心生活成本增加和无家可归者的问题。
The small living spaces, known as single room occupancy units, once called SROs, are becoming common again.
这种小型居住空间被称为单间居住单元，曾被称为SRO，现在又开始变得普遍起来。
They are being called "micro-apartments."
现在人们称之为 “微型公寓”。
New York, Seattle and Portland, Oregon are putting money into smaller living spaces.
纽约、西雅图和俄勒冈州波特兰市都在为发展小型居住空间投入资金。
New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, announced a $50 million plan to repair and renovate 500 SROs across the state.
纽约州州长凯茜·霍楚尔（Kathy Hochul）宣布了一项5000万美元的计划，用于维修和翻新全州500套单人房。
In Portland, a group called Central City Concern supervises about 1,000 SROs and makes them available at a very low cost to people who might otherwise be homeless.
在波特兰，一个名为 “中央城市关注”（Central City Concern）的组织管理着大约 1000 套单人房，并以极低的价格提供给那些可能无家可归的人。
They are $550 per month.
它们的月租金为 550 美元。
Cheyenne Welbourne moved into one of the units last year after years of living on the street.
夏安·韦尔本（Cheyenne Welbourne）在街头流浪多年后，于去年搬入了其中一间房。
The room is only big enough for a small bed, a television, a chair and a toilet and sink.
韦尔本的房间只放得下一张小床、一台电视、一把椅子、一个马桶和一个洗脸池。
But it means Welbourne, as he said, can have "a nice home, a decent home."
但正如韦尔本所说，这意味着他可以拥有 “一个不错的家，一个体面的家”。
When he moved into the apartment, all he had was one bag and he was glad he did not have to spend another winter outside.
当他搬进公寓时，行李只有一个包，他很高兴不用再在外面过冬了。
"I just want a home, you know?" he said.
他说：“我只是想要一个住的地方，你知道吗？”
The small units are good for single people, but some experts worry that not enough is being done for families.
对单身人士来说可以住单人房是件好事，但一些专家担心，对家庭来说这做得还不够。
Marisa Zapata is a land-use professor at Portland State University.
玛丽莎·萨帕塔（Marisa Zapata）是波特兰州立大学研究土地使用的教授。
Zapata said she worries that governments and planners will see the SROs as a "solution, and not do right by our community members by building the housing that people want."
萨帕塔说，她担心政府和规划者会将单人房视为“一种解决方案，而不是通过建造人们想要的住房这种正确的方式来对待社区成员”。
But Vicki Been, a law professor and a director at the Furman Center, said she hopes the work being done in places like Portland and Seattle will help other cities understand there is still a need for simple housing.
但法学教授兼弗曼中心主任维基·比恩（Vicki Been）说，她希望波特兰和西雅图等地所做的工作能帮助其他城市了解人们仍然对简易住房有需求。
"The alternatives are...people being in shelters, people being on the street, people being doubled, tripled, quadrupled up," said Been.
比恩说：“替代方案包括……让人们住进收容所，流落街头，或者两个、三个、甚至四个人挤在一起。”
Even if the Peraza-Garcia family would like more space, Barbara said she is happy.
尽管佩拉扎·加西亚一家会想要更大的空间，但芭芭拉说她现在也很高兴。
Her kids get to live near their relatives, and they can be close to food stores and green spaces to play in.
她的孩子们可以住在亲戚家附近，可以靠近食品店和可供玩耍的绿地。
She said the family will work to save some money and try to get better jobs during the next year.
她说，他们一家将努力攒钱，争取在明年找到更好的工作。
If that works, they can move to a bigger place.
如果这样做可行，他们就可以搬到更大的地方。
"We're happy because we're here in a quiet place where we can be together as a family," she said.
她说：“我们很高兴，因为我们在这里有一个安静的地方，可以一家人待在一起。”
I'm Dan Friedell.
丹·弗里德尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
