Fredericton non-profit completes first neighbourhood block of tiny homes in fight against homelessness

Fredericton's 12 Neighbours affordable housing project is about to finish building its 12^th tiny home, completing its first neighbourhood block.

12 Neighbours Community Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that has been busy building 96 micro-homes in Fredericton's north side to support people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.

Lynn LeBlanc moved into one of the tiny homes in March.

"It's been a huge blessing. It gives me an opportunity to have a safe haven, my own home, my own space,” LeBlanc said.

“I know that I can always come home to a safe spot, but it also gives me an opportunity to afford things that I couldn't do, like save for a car, take care of my teeth - I went to the dentist - and just having the things that are a little more expensive than what we normally could afford."

With the housing project's first neighbourhood block nearly complete, the organization is now getting ready for their next phase.

"What we're doing with the infrastructure is building out water and sewer in order to create spaces and we're building homes at about three new homes a month,” said Marcel LeBrun, the founder of 12 Neighbours.

According to LeBlanc, the homes are even suited to each community member living in them.

“My house is drywall and it's white and it reminds me of my grandmother's house, so to me, it's my house,” she said.

LeBlanc adds it's not only the houses that make the community.

"We always have somebody we can go to if we have a problem, if we need to borrow a cup of sugar, everybody's just so genuinely happy to be here and just happy to have people to look out for and be looked out after,” LeBlanc said.

12 Neighbours' next initiative will be to construct a social enterprise centre, which will give residents the opportunity to learn new job skills.

"There's so many individuals I talked to that are just so thrilled to have their own place and that just creates a foundation for them to now start to look at other goals in their life and what they're going to be able to accomplish moving forward,” LeBrun said.

Next week, 12 Neighbours will begin their 100-by-100 foot community garden so that residents already living in the community can grow their own food.