These people have veered away from the traditional living situations.
Young adults across the United States — and in some other parts world — are finding unique solutions to the rising cost of housing.
CNBC Make It has talked with many of them who have made homes in places like a former laundromat and a houseboat in London.
Take a look inside some of the most unexpected apartments we've seen so far.
28-year-old pays $62 a month to live in a dumpster
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
In 2022, Harrison Marshall had just returned to London after working abroad for almost a year. While apartment hunting, Marshall realized a one-bedroom apartment in Southwark, a borough in South London, was out of his budget, Marshall started looking into the possibility of living in a dumpster instead.
As the co-founder of the small architecture company CAUKIN Studio, Marshall used his connections to rent a dumpster from a waste management company for $62 a month, and an arts charity granted him access to an empty lot in Southwark to put the dumpster in.
Money Report
"With its ups and downs, I've turned my living situation into an art piece. It shines light on the absurdity of London's housing crisis in a way that makes people smile and think," Marshall stated for CNBC Make It.
Marshall spent roughly $5,000 to get the dumpster move-in ready. That included building a raised bed, wooden boxes to store his clothes, and a kitchen with a mini fridge, a small sink, and an induction cooktop. The only thing missing from Marshall's dumpster home is a bathroom. He uses a Porta Potty outside and has to take showers at work or his local gym.
This couple left the U.S. to live on a houseboat in London
As a dual citizen of the U.S. and the U.K., Maisy Dewey always dreamed of living in London. In 2022, the 25-year-old and her fiancé, Harrison Kent, had been living in Philadelphia for two years and started considering moving to London. At the same time, Kent started researching schools to get his master's in furniture design.
The couple started preparing for their move by holding yard sales and selling most of their belongings, all while still trying to find a permanent place to live in London. After flying with their belongings and Dalmatian dog, Kipper, Dewey, and Kent moved into a short-term rental while they worked with a real estate agent to find them an apartment.
After several months of looking, the couple found a place they fell in love with, but before they went to tour it, the listing agent informed them it had been taken.
The agent then said he had another space by the water to show them. When they told him a waterfront property was likely out of their budget, he clarified that it was in the water, not on it. Soon, they were on their way to tour a moored houseboat.
The 65-ft long Widebeam boat features a living room, two bedrooms, full bathroom and a kitchen. The couple signed a two-year lease in November 2023 at a rate of roughly $2,200 per month. Their upfront costs included a security deposit just over $2,500, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
"We feel like we're living in a children's picture book," Dewey says. "It adds such a fun element to life. I'm already such a huge homebody and I feel like living on the boat has really done me in."
34-year-old pays $4,150 a month for a 1-bedroom apartment above a Miami mall
In 2021, Rachel Koogan decided to leave New York City and move to Miami, Florida, to be closer to her parents.
Koggan hired a realtor down in Florida to get her apartment hunt started while she also searched for places online. That's how she discovered a one-bedroom and a one-and-a-half-bathroom above the Brickell City Centre, a shopping mall in Miami.
"When I saw this apartment, I immediately jumped on it," Koggan says. "I actually didn't even get to tour or see this property in person before I made an offer. I'd done a lot of research on the building and I felt confident that it would be something that I liked but I just had to go off the photos, basically."
The apartment was originally listed for $3,100 a month, but since there were a number of other applications submitted, Koggan offered $3,350 a month in hopes of securing the space. The move worked.
Her first year in the unit, Koggan's rent was $3,350 but increased to $4,200 for her second year. Koggan was able to negotiate her monthly rent for year three back down to $4,150.
One perk that came as a complete surprise to Koggan is that as a resident of Brickell City Centre, she has direct access from her building to the mall.
"It was the best discovery in the entire world. It is now my absolute favorite feature of my apartment, and whenever anyone comes to visit, it's sort of my party trick to show them what my backyard is ... It honestly gives me so much entertainment and joy every single day," she says.
This couple lives in a school they converted into a luxury tiny home
In 2021, Tanya Nestoruk, 31, and Arya Touserkani, 38, were living in a four-bedroom house in Canada when they decided to sell it and move into a van.
"I love the simplicity and versatility of being able to live and travel wherever you want, have minimal impact, and explore new places," Nestoruk tells CNBC Make It.
Nestoruk, an environmental educator, and Touserkani, a photographer, lived in the van for several months when they realized they wanted something bigger. They decided on a school bus.
"We wanted to do something more adventurous and we thought the school bus would be a fun way to give a second life to a retired vehicle," Nestoruk says.
Nestoruk found the retired school bus on Facebook Marketplace. The couple bought the school bus for $7,200, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
The couple spent roughly $30,000 and one year turning the school bus into their home. The bus has a bedroom with a king-sized bed, a living room with a custom pullout couch, a kitchen with a three-burner stovetop and oven, and a bathroom. They also found an RV washer and dryer on Facebook Marketplace.
Nestoruk and Touserkani are currently on a break from life on their school bus and plan to eventually sell it and explore other tiny living options. They also want to build their dream home on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
"We're hoping to enjoy the bus as long as we can and we hope that the next owners will take it on new adventures," Nestoruk says. "It has lots of life left."
24-year-old lived in an apartment the size of an average parking spot
Alex Verhaeg had just turned 21 years old when he moved into a 95 sq. ft. apartment in Manhattan's East Village.
The tiny apartment was smaller than the average size of a parking spot — which is roughly 150 square feet — and didn't have a bathroom. Instead, the five-story building has three bathrooms and two showers on each floor for tenants to share.
When CNBC Make It first spoke to Verhaeg back in 2022 he was paying $1,100 a month in rent and said then that a third year in the apartment would probably be his last.
"It gave me independence to have a spot all to myself," he says. "You had to share some things like the restroom but the apartment itself was just mine, which I really enjoyed."
In 2023, Verhaeg moved out of his tiny apartment into a three-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in Midtown with two roommates. He pays $1,300 a month for his part of the rent, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Verhaeg says there was a slight adjustment period to living in a bigger place and having access to things like a full-size stove: "I didn't have much time to think about it because it all happened so fast."
"Now I get to do more cooking and continue getting used to having roommates," he says.
28-year-old has lived in an old NYC laundromat for five years and pays $1,900
When Sampson Dahl, 28, found a former laundromat in Maspeth, Queens on an online forum back in 2019, he had no idea how much the space would become his life.
Early last year, CNBC Make It met Dahl after his former laundromat-turned-apartment went viral on TikTok. At the time, he was paying $1,850 a month — his rent has since increased to $1,900.
At the start of 2023, Dahl was working in TV and film set design — which allowed him access to a lot of the furniture and décor you see throughout his apartment — but the Writers Guild of America strike put a pause on any new work and forced Dahl to rethink the unlikely home he had created.
"I've gotten to focus on the space a lot, so I've been throwing shows, events, and intimate gatherings almost weekly at this point," Dahl tells CNBC Make It. "It's been a great opportunity to kind of dive into the space more."
Dahl doesn't make a lot of money from the events, but he says what he earns from the door charge is enough to help make his monthly rent payments and continue living alone.
After living in the laundromat for five years, Dahl says that he is now looking more seriously into moving out.
"I don't want to be there forever. In my best case scenario, I leave, and I don't think about it for a while, and then come to visit in 10 years, and it's something surprising to me," he says.
Living in micro apartments in NYC for less than $700 a month
When Aliana Randazzo, 25, and J.R. Wills, 27, were planning their moves to New York City in 2023, they both fell in love with micro studio apartments in midtown Manhattan. Randazzo found her rent-stabilized 80 square-feet micro-studio on StreetEasy and moved into the space in August 2021. The rent was $650 a month.
"I wanted to pay less for rent so I could travel more and experience more," Randazzo tells CNBC Make It. "Living in this place has been quite the adventure. It's nice because I was in Manhattan, so I wasn't missing anything."
After living in the micro apartment for a few years, Randazzo moved into a $6,750-a-month townhouse in the East Village with four other roommates.
Just like Randazzo, Wills found his micro apartment on StreetEasy. At the time, the 27-year-old barista trainer at Starbucks Reserve Roastery moved into his 85 square-feet space in February 2022 and pays $687 a month for what he tells CNBC Make It is his "rent-stabilized shoe box."
"I wasn't really looking for a micro-studio in particular, but I saw the space. I liked it, so I just kind of went for it," Wills says. "I walked into the space for the first time. I saw the window. There was so much natural sunlight everywhere. I knew it was for me."
Are you stressed about money? Sign up for CNBC's new online course. We'll teach you how to be more successful and confident with your money, and practical strategies to boost savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.
