SMALL HOUSE MAN
One man’s defiant solution to the housing crisis became bigissue.com’s most-read story ever
In May, when The Big Issue heard about the mysterious appearance of a makeshift house on an East London pavement, we knew we had to investigate. Made of wood and just big enough for someone to sleep in, the house had a locking door, fairy lights, a fence and a sloped roof. There was even a mascot in the shape of a toy parrot. But where had it come from?
We visited, but no one was in. That evening, however, we received a call from a man named Lukas, who said he was a former London Underground worker but more importantly was the architect, builder and resident of Number 1 Bethnal Green Road.
He told us the house was born from a simple choice: “I had nowhere to live, so it was a choice between sleeping behind a bin or building myself a house.”
The house was elaborate. Constructed from a discarded wardrobe, it had palettes on the floor to stop him getting wet if it rained. An adjoining BT advertisement board allowed Lukas to get power.
“I just wanted to make it look good so that I don’t disturb people,” he said. Locals responded with kindness, bringing him food and water.
“People understand that I am just in a bad situation and just want to help,” Lukas explained.
And on the outside of his little home, Lukas had created a mural that read: “a chuva vai passar”. Translated from Portuguese into English, it held a message of optimism: “the rain will pass”.
In a borough where 21,000 people were waiting for a council house, the story struck a chord, and was seen by over 230,000 Big Issue readers.
It was a sign of things to come, as the story foreshadowed a rise in evictions and homelessness driven by the
