A middle school custodian was suspended and later resigned after secretly living above the school auditorium for six months. He furnished the space with beds, furniture, and a mini-fridge, and had his four children stay with him on weekends because he had nowhere else to go.

[u/detectiverobert]

[u/Callidonaut]

Historically, it's far from unheard-of for people whose job it is to watch over a building to have been given lodgings on-site for exactly that reason.

[u/Helpful_Space_6793 → u/Callidonaut]

In the UK old schools generally had a "caretakers" cottage on-site for this reason. Unfortunately appears to have died out in new build schools though.

[u/Mountain-Singer1764 → u/Helpful_Space_6793]

Caretakers now share a flat 45 minutes away.

[u/Legendary_Carcass → u/Mountain-Singer1764]

Above a Gregg's!

[u/EmploymentKind6113 → u/Helpful_Space_6793]

We have a old school in our country like 150 years old it is kinda huge but it has a little village/town for the staff to live in.

[u/Eleglas → u/Helpful_Space_6793]

I went to school right over these eras. The caretaker's house was actually on the roof of one of the buildings. We would go past it regularly when moving to/from our english and foreign languages classes that were on a taller, connected building.

I don't think I ever spoke with him, but he was like a landmark of the school himself - you'd see him all over doing maintenance, cleaning, etc. I vaguely remember him also doing a like "work experience" type talk to some of us in a class one day. He seemed nice, if quiet and kept to himself.

Then, in 2009, we got a whole new building and I'm pretty sure he was laid off because I never saw him again. Contractors came in to clean and do upkeep when needed but only after school hours so mostly never saw them unless I had stayed behind for whatever reasons.

I always thought school became cold and corporatist after that move, it never felt comfortable like the old buildings as flawed as they were. I wonder what happened to that guy.

[u/LoopStricken → u/Callidonaut]

Both schools I went to had live-in groundskeepers/security.

[u/StraightBudget8799 → u/LoopStricken]

I have been on a university campus.

I have distinctly NOT seen a cleaner with her little son in the huge ass empty staff room with couches, TV, fully fitted kitchen, sorting out a meal of watermelon at 8pm. Nor did that proffered watermelon taste very nice as I went back to work on my assignment. I saw nothing, nope.

[u/brideofpucky → u/StraightBudget8799]

Remember: If you see something, no you didn’t!

[u/Low-Car-6331 → u/Callidonaut]

This has started to fade out as laws around it became more complicated to the point it was generally not worth it unless the person is considered salary (well if you want to follow the law). Think about it this way, if a teacher or student starts asking the janitor questions, this means the janitor is now on the clock as an hourly employee, and if they live on site you have to carefully balance all of this.

It still happens with hourly, but generally its done by smaller company's and the way things happen, a lot of stuff is "off the books" and technically illegal in how they do it.

[u/Veronica612 → u/Low-Car-6331]

And for property insurance reasons also

[u/SardScroll → u/Veronica612]

Propery issurance, accident insurance, liability rules have made everyone hyper vigiliant.

[u/No_Blacksmith_2591 → u/Low-Car-6331]

It goes beyond just labor compensation laws, you have now to factor in property laws in some places as they can bring a case where they can claim ownership due to living there uninterrupted for a long period of time. It's stupid legislation that ended up punishing people by not carving out an exception for these types of things directly.

[u/Low-Car-6331 → u/No_Blacksmith_2591]

Adverse possession is what you are thinking of, and the presence of a landlord/renter agreement stops that from happening. The way adverse possession works (in a broad sense) is that you need to be acting as the owner of the property for an extended period of time. The fact there is a written agreement, renders the argument that you are the owner moot right out of the gate.

The way a person can claim adverse possession is: They first have to move into a dwelling that is unoccupied/abandoned. Then once they are moved in, they need to start maintaining the place and improving the land and structure (or replace the structure even). While doing that, they need to assume all responsibilities of most owners including paying property taxes. A person who does these things out in the open for various lengths of time (it depends on the state) can assume the ownership of the deed to the land. One important rule though is that the deed retains many of the previous rights stripped from it (like an easement), which could mean the improvements you made might need to be torn down and could even make you financially liable for things (say the land is part of a HOA and you are in violation of the HOA rules... you are going to be getting fines and owe dues, and they might be able to foreclose on the land now as you just brought attention to it being in violation...).

The bigger problem with employer housing is eviction process and termination, but that is another rabbits hole in its own right.

[u/HyruleVampire → u/Callidonaut]

My uncle was provided a whole ass house to live in in a very desirable Chicago neighborhood. He works for a private school.

[u/Unintended_incentive → u/Callidonaut]

There are tax exceptions that businesses get for such an arrangement, and as I'm sure limited liability clauses for those living on-premises.

[u/BlastFX2 → u/Callidonaut]

Still standard practice in Czechia. At my school, the caretaker's apartment was on the second floor. There was a storage room bellow and a classroom above.

[u/Similar-Property-729 → u/Callidonaut]

This practice really should be brought back. It adds dignity to workers and a greater sense of purpose and added responsibility. Be perfect for older folks (i.e. 50+) pushed out of their jobs by evolving tech such as AI, who would find it difficult to change careers.

[u/_araqiel → u/Callidonaut]

I’m his age and my elementary school had a live-in custodian.

[u/StraightBudget8799 → u/Callidonaut]

There’s a private school I worked at with a little three bed, one bath apartment attached to the staff room! You’d never know the door at the top of the stairs to the right of St Hilda’s led to the place.

How’d I know? Coworker who left husband with her tiny daughter from the UK got a job as a teacher, and the school helped out with a small rental fee so she could get herself sorted out without the added stress.

[u/HoneyGirlLZ → u/Callidonaut]

The last apartment I lived in had just that. The two building managers were a married couple who lived on the third floor. I'm sure they got a discount on top of their pay.

[u/CoolDiscussion1020 → u/Callidonaut]

One of the first jobs I had out of college was working as a live in maintenance tech at a remote assisted living facility.

I worked regular shifts and was on-call for emergencies. Actual emergencies. I was called twice in the year I worked there. Once was to start a generator that had not come on automatically come on (which was really weird for me because my power was out in the apartment too and turning the generator on restored my power too), and the other time was during a medical emergency.

I signed a 1 year contract which included a 1 year rental agreement which basically said if you don't re-up the contract you are required to be out of the room on that date.

[u/nalaloveslumpy → u/Callidonaut]

Maybe lighthouse keepers and castle guards....

[u/ElpisBouquet → u/nalaloveslumpy]

Nannies and housekeepers and caretakers and butlers and even quite a few pubs are just in front/below the owner's living space.

[u/Callidonaut → u/ElpisBouquet]

A lot of old-fashioned high street shops in the UK used to have an apartment for the shopkeeper to "live o'er t'shop," too.

[u/Surroundedonallsides → u/nalaloveslumpy]

Nope, a LOT of careers had/have living setup as part of the compensation. Everything from farm hands to shopkeeps to landscapers, and on.

It can go the other direction though, and become bad in a "you cant quit because we take care of your food and lodging, so then youll starve and be homeless" way, but it can also be a boon for an otherwise difficult situation like the one in op.

[u/Illiteritjenuas → u/nalaloveslumpy]

The Great Depression was a global event there was a lot of unions outside of America and I remember reading a lot of those unions simply just took over Factories and lived in them while they worked them because they had nowhere else to go.

[u/nalaloveslumpy → u/Illiteritjenuas]

You've confused a month long sit in strike with "living in the factory". They weren't living there because they were homeless. They were occupying the factory (and held it with force) so that the owners couldn't reclaim it. There were so many of them that the police and the strike breakers were not able to force them out. Basically, the governor sent in the national guard to help protect the workers from police and strike breakers.

https://www.history.com/articles/flint-sit-down-strike-general-motors-uaw

[u/navlgazer9 → u/nalaloveslumpy]

When my uncle was a deputy , he lived in a mobile home on the grounds of an elementary school that had security issues .

School paid for his water and electricity ,
And had motion detectors and all the alarms and stuff in his trailer .

He busted a lot of kids breaking into the school .