In times of extreme tragedy and major cataclysmic events, people want to come together to help each other. During major hurricanes and floods, people lose their homes and everything they have. Many homeless shelters are already packed, and even the emergency shelters established by the Red Cross and other charities become packed. If you own self storage units, and some of them are open, you could offer these up as temporary shelter to those devastated by the disaster. However, there are a few hoops you will need to jump through.
Get Your Storage Unit Property Rezoned
Before you can even offer up the extra storage units you have as temporary emergency shelter, you have to get the property rezoned. This means that your property is commercially zoned for commercial use, which is typical of most storage unit properties. To allow people to use some units as temporary shelter during this crisis, the property has to be rezoned as commercial and residential property. This may take some time, but if you take your rezoning papers directly to the mayor's office, you may be able to push things through faster because the mayor may want to find as much emergency shelter for people as he/she can. With his/her stamp of approval, the rezoning should go through quickly and then you can help people find shelter in your units.
Get One Working Toilet, Sink and Shower on the Property
If you do not have at least one working toilet, sink and shower on the property, see what you can do about having these things installed. Otherwise rent such facilities as porta-potties, porta-sinks and camp showers for those in need of facilities while they are sheltered in your storage units. Once the crisis is over, you have a bathroom you can use when you check on the property, or you can send all the rentals back to the rental company.
Get Security Cameras on the Property to Protect Everyone and Everything
To protect yourself, your temporary tenants, and the storage units that are currently full of other people's belongings, you need some security on the property. If you do not already have security cameras and CCTV on the property, install them. You should also consider hiring a security guard or two until the crisis is over and people are able to return to their homes or find more stable shelter elsewhere. This way, everyone is safe and routinely checked on to make sure that the property and the people are okay.
Share24 April 2017
After we moved into a smaller home, we realized that a lot of our stuff would need to be moved into a storage unit. Unfortunately, after we moved things into our storage space, we realized that it was going to be pretty tough to keep clean. To keep our stuff from getting damaged, we decided to go through our unit, organize our things into boxes, and try hard to keep it organized. However, after a series of trials and errors, we were able to figure out a system that worked for us, and our unit is still clean. Check out this blog to learn more about tidying up your storage unit.