Bleak locations

I remember living in a different place and there was a large, very bare and bleak reception area to the block of flats. There was one old style dial-phone by one pillar and nothing except a staircase to the rear. The whole pace was about 20 foot by 15 foot in size, felt cold and unsettling in that it would have been easy for drug addicts to take residence there. I believe my place was upstairs although it looked like nothing I had seen before.

Interpretation: Current situation with debt, undefined direction, jobless, depressed