Storage Unit Listed as Apartment for Rent in Palm Desert

We’ve all heard nightmare stories about affordable housing.

“Somebody’s teacher had to live in an RV park in order to teach in that area because it was just so expensive to live around there,” says Tom Crusse, who is visiting the desert from the East Coast.

But we found a story close to home, in Palm Desert. A storage unit with only a sink inside off of Dinah Shore Dr. in an industrial area was posted to Zillow as an apartment for rent for $900 a month, with $1000 deposit. It says there’s a bathroom on site but not inside the unit.

“That’s disgusting but one it has to have a window and it has to have a bathroom and a regular door to go in and out of not a sliding up and down door like a storage unit might be,” says Gary from Rancho Mirage.

Miguel Rangel who is a general contractor from Cathedral City says this is illegal and the city should look into it, “It’s not up to code for somebody to live there it’s a storage unit so there’s no way that a family can be there, its’ not safe, it’s not practical and it probably is not up to code with the City of Palm Desert.”

After we called the person who listed it as an apartment, the listing, that’s been up since early January, was removed.

We visited the storage site but there was no office on site. A sign says near the gate says there is a clubhouse with a shower, bathroom and other amenities on site.

We got a hold of the contractor, Chuck Spinelli, who built the units. He told us it’s the first he’s heard of someone listing this as an apartment. He says each unit is privately owned. He thinks the listing may be a mistake. He says this is not zoned or built for housing

“You can’t occupy or live in any of the units, it does have a nice clubhouse … it’s not designed at all for living,” says Spinelli.

He says the affordable housing crisis will not get better unless those in charge make it easier for contractors to build housing.

“Federal regulations and state regulations here really impact the cost of construction,” says Spinelli.