Self-storage boom: a lifestyle choice or an indictment of the UK’s housing crisis? | house

Forget about gym memberships and juicing regimens. A new necessity for improving personal well-being is self-storage units.

At least that's the call from a new company urging space-starved renters in their 30s to accept that they can't afford a home with enough cupboards in today's housing system and instead sweep the clutter into rented storage.

Hold, which is opening five warehouses in London, is trying to convince homeowners that spending $270 a month on a lock-up is a lifestyle choice that promotes calmness and relaxation and even has the potential to improve mental health .

The marketing strategy comes as figures show more than 100 storage complexes have opened in Britain's towns and cities in the past three years, with the sector now generating $1 billion in annual revenue. More and more properties are offering shared spaces, hot desking, and creative studios to create a more delicious extension of your home.

But the Generation Rent campaign group has warned that the storage boom should now be seen as an indictment of the housing crisis rather than a lifestyle choice that can improve wellbeing.

Ben Twomey, CEO of Generation Rents, said the self-storage warehouses popping up everywhere will do nothing to solve our problems. Home is the foundation of our lives. So storage containers can be a perfect metaphor for how government inaction keeps tenants out of sight and out of mind.

More than three Canary Wharf towers, or the equivalent of about 6,000 two-bedroom apartments, of new self-storage space opened in the UK last year, according to an industry report from property firm Cushman & Wakefield. The sight of storage complexes opening near small new apartments is becoming one of the dark ironies of Britain's struggle to provide enough housing.

The growth of these storage locations is being driven by record increases in private rents and increasingly cramped homes. In 2022, more than half a million renting households officially lived in overcrowded housing in England. Average rents in England have increased by 9.2% over the past year, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. Average rent in the UK.

Overcrowding often means children share bedrooms with adults and sometimes even beds with each other. More family arguments; teenagers struggling with homework; According to a survey by the National Housing Federation, there was damage to both physical and mental health.

Self-storage facility in North London. Photo: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Hold's founder, Frederic de Ryckman de Betz, said people were living on top of each other, which was fundamentally unhealthy. He said he had previously found homeless people trying to live in the units. Separation is very important.

Hold tells prospects: The system has failed us. Many of us feel trapped, overpriced and under pressure. The truth is that less space means lower quality of life. The way we feel about our personal and work spaces has a lot to do with our well-being. We all need more space to breathe, live, and grow.

The location of Holds' first branch, on a north London street described as self-storage's golden mile due to its large number of new sites, embodies this systemic failure. It is located on the border of the boroughs of Camden and Islington, with average monthly rents of $2,672 and $2,384 respectively, roughly double the UK average.

Someone from Little Library has some books stored in Hold, north London. Photo: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

On its first visit to the branch this week, the Guardian found Vincent, a professional drummer, practicing in a small, soundproofed unit as he was not allowed to play in his apartment. Some women organized charity libraries that had grown too large to be stored at home.

Hold's approach appears to be based on the decluttering movement pioneered by Marie Kondo, which argues that organizing your possessions can reset your life. As customers spend more time in storage, it's also perfect for hot desk space, Wi-Fi, and a music studio available for rent.

Previous tenants at other complexes have told the Guardian they are using the units as a workshop for their woodworking hobby, a temporary library, a workshop for running an eBay business and to store surplus clothing and furniture. Some people said they found great satisfaction in being able to see all their belongings in one place, while others said it allowed them to live smaller, even in a van or even a car.

The average monthly rent for homes in north London, where the first Hold units are located, ranges from 2,672 to 2,384. Photo: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Despite efforts to attract younger customers, most self-storage users are between the ages of 50 and 70, often starting out after a family death and needing to store inherited furniture and possessions.

Philip Macauley, general manager of Cushman & Wakefield self-storage, said, “They are still middle-aged customers, but [operators] We are trying to reach out to millennials. It's an old London problem. Apartments are getting smaller and interest rate inflation means you can't afford 2 beds and have to get 1 bed, the flip side of this is: [renting] Self storage.

His report predicts there will be more lifestyle customers, long-term residential customers who truly use self-storage units as spaces away from home and store a variety of items at different stages of their lives.

But self-storage is not the solution to the housing crisis, Twomey said. He called on the government to build more homes, properly fund councils to crack down on landlords who profit from overcrowding and put the brakes on soaring rents.

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