DISCLAIMER (since it's needed): My intent here isn't to expose or insult anybody, so I ask that you take these with a grain of salt. We're discussing personal opinions here.
Close to the entirety of what I want to address is about SRP taking a hit due to the low amount of new players who decide to stick to the server. Some of the problems behind it are the following:
Attributes
Us who have 100% on at least speed don't really notice it anymore since we've gone through it a while ago, but I've been told very often that it's a major turn-off for people who're trying to get into SRP. It makes them to go through hours and hours of pointless grinding just to be able to keep up with others. Attributes are the main reason behind people not wanting to join i.e sports when I ask them about it (and also not wanting to commit to some roles in general).
Personally, I think they should be removed as a whole... but that's just me(?)
Also: I simply want to point out that grinding attributes without having access to [/feed] is a living hell. You have to remember that the vast majority of people who decide to start playing aren't even thinking about buying a rank; this whole deal may make people feel like this system is purely P2W.
Competitiveness
While I understand that making applications complex is crucial to filter out people for specific roles, it's also extremely discouraging for the ones who want to try out new things and just play the role for fun. Have you ever given thought about how at least 90% of the people who tend to receive special roles (police, EMS, lawyer, etc) are regulars? My theory is that those who've merged into the community & figured out how to handle SRP have a much better chance at being accepted and recognized since the community in itself is very closed. This as a whole is probably one big reason behind SRP not having a lot of new players stay for longer times.
... Which brings us the main point:
The playerbase
Let's face it: We're not welcoming enough towards new people, which is why SRP seems to lack newcomers as part of its community. Sure, it's difficult to stay patient when having to confront failRPers or trolls, but we should definitely try to help and teach them how to play instead (not counting those who start spamming OOC with the n-word the moment they log on). Having a more diverse playerbase where individuals are held on equal regard could help with many problems (creating more roles, filling positions of roles in low demand, breaching closed friend groups and community), while also creating more; like dealing with roles that are in high demand as well as housing. All of these should be worked on and fixed regardless, but this is how I've built my perspective.
Of course, there's a lot more issues; but the ones I listed are what bother me the most. Plus, some important points have been brought up by others above.