Moved into crack house
The owner of MBE figured out we were spending freezing nights in the shop and we had to find a real apartment for the winter. Options were limited with no credit and almost no deposit, but we managed to find a small room in the CWE in a notorious building.
It had cockroaches, leaks, drafts, and dangerous neighbors. But it could be kept above freezing and if I remember correctly the monthly rent was around $120. Despite not finding many hours of work, we were able to pull that off for a while.