Storage Stories

It seems there are television shows that cater to everyone's desires. Since the Christmas break started, I feel like I have watched every single one of them. Hoarding? Check. Celebrity baking competition? Check. People hunting for Sasquatch? Check. Listing the rest of my voyeurisitc tendencies might take the rest of the day, so hopefully you get the idea. One show that piqued my interest revolved around a group of people who purchased the contents of storage units abandoned by their owners. The contents were salvaged through and the buyers attempted to make a profit by selling the contents, piecemeal.

I watched a few episodes and wondered how many people spent time living in storage units. Was this even a feasible possibility for people facing homelessness? Some people enduring homelessness are easy to spot, but many—perhaps most—are not. They’re living with friends and families, in their cars or in shelters. But there are a growing number of people attempting to take refuge by moving into storage units. Living in a self-storage unit is neither safe nor legal, but it does occur, for a variety of reasons.

Being homeless is akin to being a nomad. Individuals are often forced to carry all their possessions with them. Renting storage units allows people to keep their most precious belongings safe and preserve what they can of their former life. When a person is homeless, privacy is a not a luxury. The ability to keep belongings in a secure place gives homeless people a renewed sense of normalcy.

It’s pretty much impossible to determine exactly how many people are living in storage units in the U.S., but there are some indicators: media reports, as well as data from shelters and other organizations that help homeless people. At any given time, about 610,000 people in the U.S. are homeless, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Homeless people also are less likely to be chronically unemployed than many people realize. Some are working full time and simply unable to earn enough money to cover all of their basic needs. In fact, the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that at least half of all homeless people are employed. In a way, being homeless is almost a full-time job. In many cities, people are unable to get all the services needed in one location, having to go to Point A for meals, Point B for health care, Point C for food stamps. Living in storage units permits people to have a centrally located base from which they can operate. Everything stashed away and dry with the ability to come and go from their jobs and to keep necessary appointments.

The typical image of someone living on the streets doesn’t paint a complete picture of homelessness in America. In reality, homelessness can happen to anyone, perhaps because of health problems, disabilities or economic troubles. Homelessness even affects some of our nation’s heroes. For instance, roughly 6,500 female combat veterans in the U.S. are homeless, with some of them living in storage units.

I'm not sure I will be able to look at a storage unit the same way I used to.


Extra information courtesy of National Alliance to End Homelessness and SpareFoot Nonprofit surveys.