A man who was living in a storage unit with his girlfriend to save money has revealed they got kicked out of the facility after his tour of their illegal dwelling went viral.
Leland Brown Jr., 28, from Hatfield, Pennsylvania, has more than 130,000 followers on TikTok, where he documents his life as a homeless father and hotel food service worker.
The content creator, who uses the handle @fullestness, sparked controversy over his unconventional living arrangement after he shared a series of videos about his small rental space.
‘I live in a storage unit because it’s cheap in comparison to an apartment,’ he explained. ‘Living here is actually really comfortable. I get a lot of things that I need and want to get done here.’
Leland and his girlfriend, Breanna, had stacked a wall of boxes in front of the unit in an attempt to hide that they were crashing there. The space was filled with a dresser, a bookshelf, storage containers, and a couch that Breanna was sleeping on at the time. It looked similar to a studio apartment, but for less than half the price.
The average monthly rental cost of a large storage unit is $300, according to Forbes, although prices will vary based on the area and company. Leland never shared how much money they were paying for the space, but he was overall pleased with the arrangement.
He gave a tour of the public restroom that he used, saying the facility was climate-controlled and always ‘nice and warm.’ Leland also included footage of himself running in the hallway and doing pushups in the unit to show that he could easily exercise there.
‘This unit is 24 hours, so I can come here anytime I want, stay here as long as I need to,’ he continued. ‘We can take naps if we need to and go to sleep.’ Whenever they wanted a hot meal, he would take his frying pan and portable camping stove outside and cook in front of the building.
The couple also had a portable power station that they would charge using the facility’s electrical outlets. Leland explained that they were ‘very grateful’ for the unit because they wanted to save money for an RV and then eventually a tiny home.
‘Me and my baby will live here as long as we need to until we get the shelter that we want,’ he concluded. ‘Because we are living here, now we can save up more money to get what we really want. We’re in it for the long haul.’
Leland’s video tour of their space has been viewed 12.9 million times and has received more than 14,000 comments since it was posted on January 15.