On the dance floor and in the studio, Miah puts on the rhythms, the groove, and footwork of House, the Chicago-born music and dance style that grew from underground clubs into a global cultural movement.

A Househead since 2019, Miah has become part of the community carrying that culture forward—teaching dance, performing and helping sustain a scene central to Chicago’s cultural identity.

But away from the music, the twenty-something dancer has spent the past five years without stable housing—sleeping on friends’ couches, staying in a hostel and struggling to keep up with rent.

Miah’s experience reflects a broader reality within Chicago’s House scene. House music is one of the city’s most influential cultural exports, shaping dance culture around the world—from global festivals to mainstream projects like Beyoncé’s 2022 album Renaissance. Yet some of the artists and dancers sustaining the scene say they are navigating housing instability—often relying on community networks and informal support to get by.

Miah’s housing instability began while he was in college, when he was balancing classes and work. During his final year before graduation, he began turning to alternative living arrangements that he described as sometimes “shady.”

“I ended up staying in a hostel for like a week [and a half] until I was able to secure another place,” Miah explained. 

And even after graduation and landing a full time teaching job, his financial and housing circumstances were not better. 

“I feel like [where I lived]… it’s actually not really legal,” Miah described his post-grad housing, “[but I couldn’t complain too much about it because I had a place to stay.”

 Miah has lived with other “struggling artists” in two other apartments since then. He was laid off from his job, during his last lease agreement, and continued to struggle with rent using unemployment insurance.

Housing instability in the House scene isn’t new

DJ and house music historian Lori Branch said housing instability has long been part of the reality for some artists trying to establish themselves in Chicago’s scene.

“It was accepted that a lot of folks in our communities were couch surfing, you know, they were living here and there,” Branch recalls as she was staying on others’ couches throughout her twenties.

Branch, who has been involved in the culture for decades, said those challenges weren’t just something she observed in the community—they were part of her own experience coming up in Chicago’s House scene as a young DJ.

Now the Chief Creative Officer and co-host of the Vintage House Show, Branch said that she was “in and out” of college, was just beginning her career as a House artist, and living on various friends and family’s couches or spare rooms.  

“I was homeless with a crate of records [and] it gave me a little bit more freedom. I kind of went where I wanted to go. And at 18, 19 [years old], it was like it was a weird gift… I was an artist, you know… this is what my journey is supposed to be,” Branch recalls thinking.

Branch said moving between friends’ homes or short-term living arrangements was a common part of life for many artists in the scene.

“When you’re moving about and folks are like, ‘Well, you can stay with me for three months,’ or ‘You can stay with me for six months,’ you don’t feel homeless,” Branch said. “You just feel like you are taking advantage of opportunities.”

Branch said the financial realities of the scene have long forced many artists to find other ways to support themselves.

“Within the DJ world, there might be two to three percent of DJs who can actually support themselves on what they earn,” Branch said. “The rest… it’s just like actors you see on TV. That’s two to three percent of all the actors in the world.”

For Miah, financial stability remained difficult to achieve even after landing a teaching artist job after graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he said.

“It was never lost on me how I was still struggling financially, even when I got the job,” Miah said. “It was possible [to be financially stable]… but you had to bend over backwards like hell to do it, or get really lucky… I was still living check-to-check, still late on rent.”

He said the stress was compounded by living with other artists who were facing similar financial challenges.

“It didn’t help living with other artists… which added more to the stress of everything I was trying to do to stay afloat,” Miah said.

Queer identity and housing instability in the House scene

For many people in Chicago’s House scene, financial pressures intersect with another reality: the culture’s deep roots in Black and LGBTQ+ communities.

House music originated in Chicago’s underground club scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, where Black and LGBTQ+ communities created spaces for dance, expression and connection. Pioneered by DJs like Frankie Knuckles, the genre grew from local nightlife into a global cultural movement while remaining rooted in those communities.

That history is part of what drew Miah towards the culture. 

“Knowing [this history] gave me a deeper sense of fulfillment [and] a deeper sense of inheritance and belonging” Miah said, adding, “people like me created it… it’s just a very natural thing to do, to keep [the culture] going, because it’s a part of who I am with the shared intersectionalities.” 

But queer identity has also shaped how some artists experience housing instability, including Branch, who was asked to leave home at 18 after coming out as gay.

“I was like, 18… my mom kind of outed me and I was living at home, and she and my dad said, ‘you know, you’re not welcome anymore,’ “ she described.

National research suggests those experiences are not uncommon. A study from UCLA’s Williams Institute found LGBTQ+ people adults are more than twice as likely as non-LGBTQ+ adults to experience homelessness at some point in their lives.

Jahiem Jones, youth outreach coordinator at Brave Space Alliance and a leader in Chicago’s ballroom community, said he regularly encounters LGBTQ+ young people experiencing housing instability after being rejected by family members.

“They’ll come in and be like, ‘Hey, I’m living on the streets’ [or] ‘I’m in the shelter right now,’” Jones said.

Advocates said those broader housing disparities continue to affect many LGBTQ+ young people today—including some who find community in Chicago’s House scene.

Leaning on community

For many House artists navigating housing instability, support from friends, mentors and fellow dancers in the scene’s community can become an informal safety net.

A member of the Good Girls DJ collective, Branch said those kinds of informal networks have long played an important role in the scene.

The House community was a ”protective force” for her—“what we found, what our support groups were, the clubs, you know, the underground spaces where we partied—that was our support,” Branch said.

For Miah, that sense of community continues to shape how he navigates housing instability today.

Miah said he’s navigated housing instability by “following up with my close relationships with people I know, [and] staying on their couches.”

Today, Miah said he is grateful to have somewhere to stay, even if it isn’t permanent. He currently rotates between two couches—one belonging to a mentor and another a friend—while continuing to build a career in dance.

“Ever since I first got [to my current living situation], I’ve always had a fire I’ve been lighting under myself to change my situation,” Miah said. 

For Miah, that motivation remains closely tied to the culture that first drew him into the House scene.

“What is giving me hope… career and community building,” he said. “It’s the people helping me through my living situation itself, or people helping me find different connections or insights to better my career… it feels good to at least know the people… and most of it is thanks to dance.”

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About Our Stories, Our Power: Our Stories, Our Power is a six-week community journalism program led by Windy City Times and E3 Radio that trains emerging storytellers in reporting stories for and about their communities. The program is made possible by a grant from Press Forward Chicago, with support from Columbia College Chicago.

Interested in supporting a future cohort of Our Stories, Our Power? Contact Jake Wittich, managing editor of Windy City Times, at jake@windycitytimes.com.