What occupancy actually measures

Ask anyone about worker housing and the first question is occupancy. How full is it. It is the right instinct and the wrong number to stop at.

Occupancy tells you how many beds are paid for tonight. It does not tell you whether the same worker is still there in six months, whether he has started saving, whether he eats in the building or outside it. A building can run full on constant churn, new faces every month and nobody staying, and still look healthy on the only number people check.

The number under the number

What we actually watch is tenure. How long a member stays. How much of his wallet the building earns over that time. How much he sends home.

Occupancy is the door. Tenure is whether the place did its job once he walked through it.