People who are homeless in the city huddle wherever they can: bus stop benches, sidewalks, overnight shelters, friends’ couches, under bridges. And, in Keith Taylor’s case, a self-storage unit meant for things rather than people.
The 42-year-old said for the last two or three months he secretly spent most nights sleeping in a 5-by-10-foot basement unit of an indoor self-storage center in northwest Atlanta. He paid the rent, he said, with some of the money he earned donating blood plasma up to twice a week.
Surviving homelessness for any meaningful length of time requires ingenuity.
The storage place where he stayed advertises climate-controlled units, with month-to-month terms and no credit card required. Taylor said his space had no electric outlets. For a bathroom, he used a bag or a jug. For a bed, he had blankets and a sleeping bag. He rigged the roll-up door’s lock to look like it was engaged when he was inside, hoping to avoid detection by management.
He wouldn’t hang around the unit during the day. At night, he said, “I’ve got to be extremely quiet. Thank God I don’t snore.”