By Emu Devine
While it may not be known across the campus community yet, the 12 Neighbours tiny home housing project has grown immensely since the beginning of the year. The village, located on the Northside of Fredericton. In development over the course of the past several years, 12 Neighbours originally started out as a philanthropic endeavor from corporate executive—and University of New Brunswick alumnae—Marcel LeBrun. Looking to alleviate the ripple effects of the growing housing crisis and create a safe environment for those fleeing unstable or violent home lives, these miniature houses, including a private bathroom and kitchen alongside a small living space, began construction during 2022 using a combination of private and public funding.
Since then, dozens of homes have finished construction and those experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity have since moved in.
However, it wasn’t until this past April that the final houses of the initial project plan were finally completed.
Since the inital planning’s completion this April, the 12 Neighbours have seen significant success.
Following the completion of the housing development, and in step with the program’s explicit goal of providing work opportunities, counseling and health services, and fostering community for their residents in need, Neighbourly Coffee was completed and opened. Employing residents from 12 Neighbours, the cafe is also located on the Northside, and has gained a great amount of popularity since opening. Additionally, following the positive direction of the completed Fredericton housing development, another group of corporate philanthropists from St. John publicly announced their goals to build a second tiny home village based on the model of Fredericton’s 12 Neighbours. LeBrun has since agreed to consult with the St. John group as an advisor, and 12 Neighbours plans to directly construct this second village themselves. However, there is still a significant amount of fundraising and regulatory approval that has yet to be accomplished.
An additional housing development would not be built in vain, as according to 12 Neighbour’s own website there is still no way to access housing in the village without signing up for the provincial NB Housing waiting list or the city of Fredericton’s “streamlined” by-name waiting list. That also ignores the counseling services and employment assistance the village provides compared to the availability of those resources across the province. Given 12 Neighbour’s focus on community building and human-centered, holistic healing as part of their plan to address homelessness, these projects have the potential to continue being built upon and modeled after while combating the structural and systemic causes of the housing crisis and local poverty.
