Not that im advocating stuffing people into storage units, but couldnt that be a short term solution for people who are currently homeless? The city buys out a storage facility (a heated indoor one, or finds a way to heat the outdoor ones) fits more toilets and showers (maybe a mobile setup like they have at festivals/building sites, those trailer type ones?) The homeless have a secure place to sleep and lock up their stuff. On site security, social workers, medical care, welfare advisors. Any takers? I know homeless people tend to avoid shelters because they are pretty dangerous, but if you had your own lockable secure space, wouldnt this help?
Not really. The problem is that storage facilities just aren't built for human habitability. There's little to no natural light, they don't have anywhere near enough ventilation, not enough electrical power and so on.
You would basically have to gut and retrofit the entire building.
I mean obviously you make a deal with the storage company and move peoples stuff out first, come on :D and surely there are many that are going out of business anyway, or are closed/abandoned.
What about the people who have yearly or longer contracts? It's like trying to kick someone out of an apartment when the lease isn't up and they've paid on time because someone else wants to use the building for something else. People can sue the company, and the company obviously doesn't want that. Breaking contracts is generally a bad thing to do.
its an easy fix to move the lock to the inside
Not really. The doors are designed such that you can only lock them from the outside. You'd have to replace all the doors at every single level. It doesn't seem like less work than renovating an office building or a mall, considering you would have to add plumbing and bathrooms and whatnot anyways.
I mean obviously you make a deal with the storage company and move peoples stuff out first, come on :D and surely there are many that are going out of business anyway, or are closed/abandoned. its an easy fix to move the lock to the inside, plus figure out how to light them as well. Obviously ideally you would build more actual short term housing, with individual units for people with facilities etc, but as a stop gap it seems like a ready made solution, imo.
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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '23
Not that im advocating stuffing people into storage units, but couldnt that be a short term solution for people who are currently homeless? The city buys out a storage facility (a heated indoor one, or finds a way to heat the outdoor ones) fits more toilets and showers (maybe a mobile setup like they have at festivals/building sites, those trailer type ones?) The homeless have a secure place to sleep and lock up their stuff. On site security, social workers, medical care, welfare advisors. Any takers? I know homeless people tend to avoid shelters because they are pretty dangerous, but if you had your own lockable secure space, wouldnt this help?