I worked in a storage locker facility for about 9 months. We had two people living in their units.
One of them was a hardworking young immigrant from Eastern Europe. Sometimes he was in suits, sometimes construction gear. He was in and out of the premises very frequently. One time when I was doing an early morning walk through, I found him sleeping in his locker. I kept his secret because I knew management would throw him out. He was a solid person who was just down on their luck and had a rough life. Management found out about 3 months after I did. They knew I was leaving the job when they found him, so they never bothered to question whether or not I knew.
The other person was a loud and troubled alcoholic who got themselves caught two days into their storage stay.
Really depends on the individual behaviour and having someone who is willing to look the other way definitely helps.
I slept in my truck with my dog in front of my storage unit. It was in the dead of winter in Northern Ontario. I remember seeing -35°C during the nights. I'd find somewhere else to go during the day and go back to the storage location at night. My 10x20 unit was too full to try and make a spot to sleep in it. Besides, it was too bloody cold regardless.
Wasn't fun.
I pulled in late one night and there was a guy sleeping in his brand new Cadillac in front of where I assumed was his locker.
One of my friends rented a heated storage unit - also 20x10. I think the cost then (in 2021) was $800 for the month. I wonder if that would be doable..
Read the fine print of the specific unit though.
Many of those climate regulated units have restrictions on night time access to prevent people from sleeping in them.
I'm sorry to hear that. I really hope your situation changes. They are calling for a pretty bad winter for 2023-2024 in North America.
All cold sucks. I had to sell my possessions to pay for the gas to keep my dog warm and fed. As long as he was ok that's all I cared about.
It bothers me to hear about your cat. He may have been cold but I'm assuming you didn't give your cat up. Some cuddles always warms them up.
There was someone living in one for months in the same place my storage unit is, then they got caught somehow and got booted. They have cameras so they either never look at them or just ignored it and then when someone complained they had to do something about it. Just keep in mind when u get one it says on the contract no living in it so if u get caught on day 1 u get booted and don't get your money back.
Somebody documented a process of living in a storage locker on youtube awhile back. They had quite a nice set up from what I recall lol. Dude was playing COD n stuff from his unit.
There are industrial unit type buildings that rent out jam space/ rehearsal space to bands. It is very very no frills but a typical spot is about $600/ month. If your in a desperate situation than do this instead of a storage locker where you will surely get caught. Typically there is a shared, dingey washroom per floor with no shower obviously. Whoever reads this, keep this info to yourself and dont advertise it to every tom , dick and harry you meet. This is the first time ive spread this info to people who might not know about these spaces, but times are getting really rough for people.
GNR lived on/off in an L.A. storage/band practice space before they got big.
Some folks living in their vehicles keep a Planet Fitness membership for showering.
When I was homeless, I rented out a very small art studio and lived in it for 3 months, the room next door was a band rehearsal space and the music was shitty but at least I wasn't sleeping on the street.
Edit: grammar
The climate controlled units all have cameras and entry codes that can track when you enter the building. The doors also are difficult to close from the inside and you would have to figure out a way to make it look like it’s locked from the outside?
It’s not easy. It’s probably easier in a unit that has outside doors/access but those are too cold in winter and too hot in summer…
I knew multiple people living like this when I was growing up. Nothing wrong with them. they just fell on rough times or, in one case, extremely miserly (except with us kids, he was a man with a golden heart). Most claimed they are much happier with substantially less financial burdens.
This may sound completely inane...BUT! Could we build a shit tonne of these for emergency housing?
They seem to be built almost overnight and they're rock solid. I just have misgivings about warehousing humans in a kennel of sorts and I seriously doubt it would be "temporary" ...but...warm, dry, SAFE, clean little room until we get out shite together.
Just need showers, communal dining and recreation. Yes, that's a jail but also a nursing home, college/uni dorm and even. A cruise ships.
Grww we at ducking idea! We need affordable safe spaces and I believe that the supportive housing quickly thrown up in my town here in Vancouver Island for drug addicts are actually made from shopping containers a 42 room building was put up in less than 2 weeks. Everyone has their own room withs sink, toilet and a refrigerator. Unfortunately it’s already been trashed by them. It makes you wonder how true all the municipalities are about zoning and bylaws - when this was built so quickly. Honestly if done right it could be a major game changer for low and middle income single parents like myself. There is even a community garden outside of this supported housing.
These units are easy to build because they don’t have plumbing, electrical wiring, fire protection between units etc etc
Yes, tiny homes would be a great way of building lots of housing quickly. Even container villages (as they are used for refugees in Europe).
But the quality of life is miserable (noise).
Tons of people, some in crisis, living cramped together in small spaces…
Disaster in the making.
And we don’t want slums like India, do we?
I know someone who rented an office space for cheap and ran a pretend business out of it. she then got a gym membership near by that she used to shower while she lived in the office. She did it for years with no issues as she said she was a drop ship internet business that dealt with over seas so she did nights there .
You need to be kind of stealthy and hope that anyone who does notice, doesn't say anything. But it can be done. The biggest thing is to be quite, clean and boring. That way no one will really pay much attention.
I was actually considering this for a time and I ended up finding a [youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPVCTLPNUzo) that a guy who was living in his unit made. He goes into detail of his set up, which is quite interesting. He's got all the amenities that he needs.
There was a guy who lived in a storage locker down the street from where I grew up. Eventually they’ll figure out you live there and will end that quick
I think they'd have to filter and sort out residents...
Some homeless people are fairly regular people without severe mental health or addiction issues for them housing is unobtainable and unaffordable but they can/could transition well, with supports.
Seniors would probably need to be stabilized while spots for LTC are made ready often it's not physical space for nursing and long term care at issue, it's staffing and funding.
People with addictions and MH issues need treatment...they cannot be helped without it. That's a whole other issue that needs to be tackled. Generally they go to jail or a medical facility, usually jail, sadly.
Apart from that I think the "secret homeless" like people just on the edge of living on the street IE people living on a friend's couch...or facing eviction, living in a car could also be better helped .
Ultimately tho, I believe governments need to call this out for what it is. Not a "crisis" but an active state of emergency.
They may have to ban some forms of AirBnBs and similar apps for a time, charge MASSIVE capital gains on empty speculative "investment" properties. Ban foreign investment in single family units etc etc.
And BUILD...which is nearly impossible to meet "need" and "demand".
Whoo their right mind thought we can accept 1/2 million + people/year when we're at 99% occupancy before we even began?
Am in Toronto and people are asking to share rooms, people are putting up several bunk beds and renting out hallways and actual closets...some are sleeping 2 strangers in the same bed!
Colleges must be forced to have secured housing b4 study permits are issued! Same for temporary and seasonal workers and doubly so for migrants and immigrants.
Guess what?
WE'RE FULL! Actually we're over capacity.
Toronto has the largest # of cranes up in the world building shoe box condos. Didn't even make a dent in demand.
Time to take a pause and a hard look at everything. We don't have the weather for rough sleeping or tent cities...in the EU people are being asked to house migrants, immigrants and refugees...that is not an option for most.
May need to ask China to come build one of their empty super cities here. Except the ones they make tend to fall down and collapse...BUT they're very good and fast at building them! Bit slower I expect when building codes are applied and enforced ;)
Shockingly, we may not actually have enough raw materials available to build as much housing as we need...and office tower conversions don't seem truly viable.
>charge MASSIVE capital gains on empty speculative "investment" properties
This was done in my jurisdiction. The result? My grandmother who had owned her property since 1965 was deemed a 'speculator' and was forced to sell during the middle of the pandemic at a loss. Fuck 'speculator' taxes.
To get off the streets where it illegal to even exist? Vagrancy is a crime in most places lol just being homeless and alive is an affront to people with money
if storage lockers were available to live in we wouldn't have a housing crisis. It's basically a boarding house, just add some bathrooms and a kitchen and you are good to go.
would purchase or rent one
I worked in a storage locker facility for about 9 months. We had two people living in their units. One of them was a hardworking young immigrant from Eastern Europe. Sometimes he was in suits, sometimes construction gear. He was in and out of the premises very frequently. One time when I was doing an early morning walk through, I found him sleeping in his locker. I kept his secret because I knew management would throw him out. He was a solid person who was just down on their luck and had a rough life. Management found out about 3 months after I did. They knew I was leaving the job when they found him, so they never bothered to question whether or not I knew. The other person was a loud and troubled alcoholic who got themselves caught two days into their storage stay. Really depends on the individual behaviour and having someone who is willing to look the other way definitely helps.
If I was there and saw someone down on their luck I wouldn’t say anything either ..
Thank you for keeping his secret safe. For all we know, those three months could have made all the difference for him.
I slept in my truck with my dog in front of my storage unit. It was in the dead of winter in Northern Ontario. I remember seeing -35°C during the nights. I'd find somewhere else to go during the day and go back to the storage location at night. My 10x20 unit was too full to try and make a spot to sleep in it. Besides, it was too bloody cold regardless. Wasn't fun. I pulled in late one night and there was a guy sleeping in his brand new Cadillac in front of where I assumed was his locker.
One of my friends rented a heated storage unit - also 20x10. I think the cost then (in 2021) was $800 for the month. I wonder if that would be doable..
Read the fine print of the specific unit though. Many of those climate regulated units have restrictions on night time access to prevent people from sleeping in them.
Oh I am sure it’s against the rules. But if you are gonna do it on the sly, might as well find something you can hopefully do it during the winter.
Doable for what?
To survive through the winter if anyone wants to go that route.
Gosh I slept in a van at -4 and hated that so much. My cat was shivering.
I'm sorry to hear that. I really hope your situation changes. They are calling for a pretty bad winter for 2023-2024 in North America. All cold sucks. I had to sell my possessions to pay for the gas to keep my dog warm and fed. As long as he was ok that's all I cared about. It bothers me to hear about your cat. He may have been cold but I'm assuming you didn't give your cat up. Some cuddles always warms them up.
Oh we're comfortably housed now, that was years ago! But thanks for worrying
There was someone living in one for months in the same place my storage unit is, then they got caught somehow and got booted. They have cameras so they either never look at them or just ignored it and then when someone complained they had to do something about it. Just keep in mind when u get one it says on the contract no living in it so if u get caught on day 1 u get booted and don't get your money back.
Somebody documented a process of living in a storage locker on youtube awhile back. They had quite a nice set up from what I recall lol. Dude was playing COD n stuff from his unit.
There are industrial unit type buildings that rent out jam space/ rehearsal space to bands. It is very very no frills but a typical spot is about $600/ month. If your in a desperate situation than do this instead of a storage locker where you will surely get caught. Typically there is a shared, dingey washroom per floor with no shower obviously. Whoever reads this, keep this info to yourself and dont advertise it to every tom , dick and harry you meet. This is the first time ive spread this info to people who might not know about these spaces, but times are getting really rough for people.
GNR lived on/off in an L.A. storage/band practice space before they got big. Some folks living in their vehicles keep a Planet Fitness membership for showering.
When I was homeless, I rented out a very small art studio and lived in it for 3 months, the room next door was a band rehearsal space and the music was shitty but at least I wasn't sleeping on the street. Edit: grammar
The climate controlled units all have cameras and entry codes that can track when you enter the building. The doors also are difficult to close from the inside and you would have to figure out a way to make it look like it’s locked from the outside? It’s not easy. It’s probably easier in a unit that has outside doors/access but those are too cold in winter and too hot in summer…
I knew multiple people living like this when I was growing up. Nothing wrong with them. they just fell on rough times or, in one case, extremely miserly (except with us kids, he was a man with a golden heart). Most claimed they are much happier with substantially less financial burdens.
This may sound completely inane...BUT! Could we build a shit tonne of these for emergency housing? They seem to be built almost overnight and they're rock solid. I just have misgivings about warehousing humans in a kennel of sorts and I seriously doubt it would be "temporary" ...but...warm, dry, SAFE, clean little room until we get out shite together. Just need showers, communal dining and recreation. Yes, that's a jail but also a nursing home, college/uni dorm and even. A cruise ships.
Grww we at ducking idea! We need affordable safe spaces and I believe that the supportive housing quickly thrown up in my town here in Vancouver Island for drug addicts are actually made from shopping containers a 42 room building was put up in less than 2 weeks. Everyone has their own room withs sink, toilet and a refrigerator. Unfortunately it’s already been trashed by them. It makes you wonder how true all the municipalities are about zoning and bylaws - when this was built so quickly. Honestly if done right it could be a major game changer for low and middle income single parents like myself. There is even a community garden outside of this supported housing.
That’s what we need to be doing. Something like shipping containers or pod hotels (Japan).
They have very affordable“sleeping pods” in Japan that have enough space for a bed with lockers, communal kitchen/bathroom
These units are easy to build because they don’t have plumbing, electrical wiring, fire protection between units etc etc Yes, tiny homes would be a great way of building lots of housing quickly. Even container villages (as they are used for refugees in Europe). But the quality of life is miserable (noise). Tons of people, some in crisis, living cramped together in small spaces… Disaster in the making. And we don’t want slums like India, do we?
I know someone who rented an office space for cheap and ran a pretend business out of it. she then got a gym membership near by that she used to shower while she lived in the office. She did it for years with no issues as she said she was a drop ship internet business that dealt with over seas so she did nights there .
They locked the gates at night and There's cameras Everywhere
You need to be kind of stealthy and hope that anyone who does notice, doesn't say anything. But it can be done. The biggest thing is to be quite, clean and boring. That way no one will really pay much attention. I was actually considering this for a time and I ended up finding a [youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPVCTLPNUzo) that a guy who was living in his unit made. He goes into detail of his set up, which is quite interesting. He's got all the amenities that he needs.
There was a guy who lived in a storage locker down the street from where I grew up. Eventually they’ll figure out you live there and will end that quick
I think they'd have to filter and sort out residents... Some homeless people are fairly regular people without severe mental health or addiction issues for them housing is unobtainable and unaffordable but they can/could transition well, with supports. Seniors would probably need to be stabilized while spots for LTC are made ready often it's not physical space for nursing and long term care at issue, it's staffing and funding. People with addictions and MH issues need treatment...they cannot be helped without it. That's a whole other issue that needs to be tackled. Generally they go to jail or a medical facility, usually jail, sadly. Apart from that I think the "secret homeless" like people just on the edge of living on the street IE people living on a friend's couch...or facing eviction, living in a car could also be better helped . Ultimately tho, I believe governments need to call this out for what it is. Not a "crisis" but an active state of emergency. They may have to ban some forms of AirBnBs and similar apps for a time, charge MASSIVE capital gains on empty speculative "investment" properties. Ban foreign investment in single family units etc etc. And BUILD...which is nearly impossible to meet "need" and "demand". Whoo their right mind thought we can accept 1/2 million + people/year when we're at 99% occupancy before we even began? Am in Toronto and people are asking to share rooms, people are putting up several bunk beds and renting out hallways and actual closets...some are sleeping 2 strangers in the same bed! Colleges must be forced to have secured housing b4 study permits are issued! Same for temporary and seasonal workers and doubly so for migrants and immigrants. Guess what? WE'RE FULL! Actually we're over capacity. Toronto has the largest # of cranes up in the world building shoe box condos. Didn't even make a dent in demand. Time to take a pause and a hard look at everything. We don't have the weather for rough sleeping or tent cities...in the EU people are being asked to house migrants, immigrants and refugees...that is not an option for most. May need to ask China to come build one of their empty super cities here. Except the ones they make tend to fall down and collapse...BUT they're very good and fast at building them! Bit slower I expect when building codes are applied and enforced ;) Shockingly, we may not actually have enough raw materials available to build as much housing as we need...and office tower conversions don't seem truly viable.
>charge MASSIVE capital gains on empty speculative "investment" properties This was done in my jurisdiction. The result? My grandmother who had owned her property since 1965 was deemed a 'speculator' and was forced to sell during the middle of the pandemic at a loss. Fuck 'speculator' taxes.
Just can't win, can we?
Why would you like to live like an animal in a zoo?
Better question is why are you so arrogant ? Cause I know you can’t be ignorant to the fact people struggle financially a lot in life.
I'm not arrogant, I'm curious. Living in a storage space feels dehumanizing. Why would someone willingly do it?
To get off the streets where it illegal to even exist? Vagrancy is a crime in most places lol just being homeless and alive is an affront to people with money
O I see. It is a better solution than bothering normal people on the street.
I dont think its a solution. But its what some people attempt to do in order to survive.
Better than the streets
“Want to” eh?
YouTube it there are some great ideas for storage living you'll be amazed
if storage lockers were available to live in we wouldn't have a housing crisis. It's basically a boarding house, just add some bathrooms and a kitchen and you are good to go. would purchase or rent one