The housing crisis has become so extreme that there is now not a single state, metropolitan area, or county in the United States where a person earning the federal minimum wage can afford market rent on a modest two-bedroom apartment. Homelessness is growing. Tens of thousands of people have resorted to living out of their cars.
At the same time, the number of storage units being built nationwide is growing.
If you are currently living inside of a storage unit, or have done so in the last year, or know of someone who is doing so, we want to talk to you about your experience. If you are on the staff of a storage unit company or have interacted with people with such living arrangements, we would also welcome contact.
We understand that you may be at a vulnerable point in your life. Our interest in speaking to you is in an effort to spotlight the growing housing inequality in the United States. To that end, we are also interested in speaking to housing advocates, social workers, outreach officers and others who have helped or are trying to help people facing such circumstances.
We might call or email you to talk more about your story, and we’ll never publish anything you put in this questionnaire without talking with you first. We don’t share your contact information outside the Times newsroom, and we use it only to contact you. If you’d like to get in touch with us anonymously or in a more secure way, you can do that here: nytimes.com/tips.
