Artist Turns Dumpster into Home to Protest Soaring London Rents

An artist in London has taken a unique approach to highlighting the city’s housing crisis. Harrison Marshall, 28, has converted a rubbish skip into a tiny home and plans to live in it for a year to protest the “crazy” rental prices in the British capital.

Faced with skyrocketing rents and a shortage of affordable housing, Marshall decided to take matters into his own hands. He spent £4,000 (approximately $7,200) to build a wooden structure with a curved roof and attach it to a skip, creating a compact living space complete with a small kitchen and a mezzanine bed.

Marshall’s “Skip House,” as it’s been dubbed, sits on a patch of grass in Bermondsey, south London, provided by an arts charity. He showers at work or the gym and relies on a neighbor’s hosepipe for water. A portable lavatory completes the unconventional setup.

Despite the unusual living arrangements, Marshall says he’s been overwhelmed by the support from his neighbors, who have even brought him home-cooked meals. He hopes his project will draw attention to the plight of many Londoners struggling to find affordable housing in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

“The skip provided me the kind of opportunity to make my own tiny little house,” Marshall said. “As was the case with thousands of people across the city and across the country, the prices had gone crazy. Rent was mad. And even if I found somewhere that was in my price zone, then there’d be 100 other people or so looking for that room.”

With inflation soaring and wages failing to keep pace, Marshall’s creative protest highlights the growing challenges faced by many in London and across the UK.

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