Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/10/woman-lived-in-grocery-stores-roof-sign-for-a-year.html
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I’m amazed that she was able to climb up and down to the rooftop for a year without being spotted.
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“Straight-faced” it… all you gotta do is look like you are supposed to be climbing up there…
And be white?
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I guess the wearing a pair of coveralls when entering and leaving the sign would probably allay witnesses suspicions.
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… possibly during the wee hours, and the street could be devoted 100% to business, so no home dwellers to notice her.
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Hello fellow kids!
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The “AI” generated image is confusing me, as the reality is quite different:
The “sign” is more a false gable end, which seems like it would be connected to the building, but I’m guessing it’s more like a simple shed sitting on the roof.
Looks like roof access might have been pretty easy, given how low it is, perhaps even more so around the side/back of the building.
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When you think about how much rent is in most major cities in the US, living rent-free for a year while working full time could be almost enough to put a down payment on a small house (albeit well outside the city itself.) There was kid here in Boston who lived secretly in a tent (I think down along the Charles in Watertown) so he didn’t have to spend a decade paying off his college loans. He had a full time white collar job, showered at the gym for a small monthly fee, and had his loans paid off within a year or two. [ETA: trying to find a link to the story.]
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That layout looks like the Woodman’s stores in the Illinois / Wisconsin area. (Good stores - I highly recommend them.) I’m going to be peering carefully at the sign the next time we go grocery shopping.
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It’s going to be securely attached enough to not be blown down in the wind, and weatherproof enough to keep water off the lighting inside (assuming it’s lit - though if there was electricity in the sign they wouldn’t have needed the extension cord so maybe not). And the back of the building is secluded enough to be out of view from the road. So I can see how someone might make this work.
Looking at the satellite view it’s roughly as deep as a car is wide, so not a large space but large enough I guess.
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Given she needed to install their own floor, I’m wondering if it’s because it’s essentially a bump within the roof (i.e. the building rafters and ceiling are below, rather than the roof of the building, but it’s not accessible from within the building without tearing out the ceiling of the store), or she needed flooring because otherwise she was sitting directly on the roof. It’s part of the building’s structure, but it’s not the attic it looks to be, from the front. I could see that it might have electricity up there, but not in a way that’s accessible if you’re not an electrician.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we soon see a lot more of these stories-now that building owners have a reason to go looking at parts of their properties they would otherwise let be. People have been doing the live in a tent, shower at the gym and save money thing for decades now. People need shelter. People are ingenious. Shelter will be found/made/re-purposed. The next person will get an extension cord that matches the color of the roof, or cover it with sealing tape. Maybe soon a solar set-up will be the power source of choice.
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I almost didn’t click on the story when I saw the obviously fake AI pic and assumed the story was equally fake.
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Without knowing the reason why she chose to live there, I can only hope this will help draw attention to the housing shortage and how the insufficiently-homed are being marginalized and ignored.
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I hope so, but you’d think that the sea of tent cities that already exist in American cities and get regularly cleared out by city governments would also draw attention to our housing shortage and our homeless crisis caused in large part by corporate landlords jacking up the prices of rentals, but… here we are… 
I so think maybe most of us are aware of this problem, it’s just that city, state, and the federal government have been dragging their feet on doing anything other than try and offer tax breaks for “affordable” units for builders… 
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Derp - of course. Point well taken.
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Kudos to the store and its parent company for acting like decent human beings and even making reference to the housing crisis in their statement.
Family Fare declined to press criminal charges against her. In addition, police said the store agreed to work with the woman to get her furniture down and back to her.
SpartanNash, the parent company of Family Fare, offered comment on the unusual situation.
“We are proud of our associates for responding to this situation with the utmost compassion and professionalism. Ensuring there is ample safe, affordable housing continues to be a widespread issue nationwide that our community needs to partner in solving. Out of respect for privacy for the individual involved, we will not be sharing further comment.”
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How Gibsonian…
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I’d hope any story like this would help get some real traction on the issue, of course… Sadly, shit’s getting beyond broken, and far too many of our elected officials seem really content to just ignore it and hand out tax cuts like candy… We should all be pissed about that…
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