Homelessness is a big problem, requiring different solutions. It affects almost 250,000 people in Canada each year.
In Fredericton, homelessness affects a diverse group of people from many walks of life.
According to Sara Davidson’s 2021 article in the Journal of New Brunswick Studies, Fredericton has a homeless population of about 150 individuals — 20 percent are the people we see on the streets, but others stay in the city’s shelters. There are only 60 beds available across the city. Others stay on friends’ couches or with family, a kind of hidden homelessness. Some live in tents and other forms of shelter across the city.
Escalating rents and insecure housing tenure are a central cause, but other causes include addiction, mental illness, and experiences of abuse — some have experienced childhood abuse, others suffer from substance use disorders. Some suffer mental health illnesses, and others were evicted because they were unable to make sky-high rent. Indeed, families with children are the country’s fastest growing demographic of homelessness.
The lack of housing options is a serious problem in Fredericton.
This is where the tiny homes non-profit organization at 269 Two Nations Crossing, called the 12 Neighbours Community project, comes into play.
Founder Marcel LeBrun wants to give back to vulnerable members of the community by creating employment, a sense of community, and a safe living space for people in Fredericton to call home.
The project aims to build 96 individual tiny homes, with the first 36 homes to be finished by March 2023.
It draws on the skills of individuals living in the City of Fredericton, including Ryan Joy, the community facilitator.
I asked him about the key aim of the tiny home community.
He said the focus “is to create a safe environment for individuals experiencing homelessness” and to give them “a sense of community and tools … to integrate successfully back into society.”
One 12 Neighbours Community resident, Mark, saw the community as offering a second chance to get his life back to normal.
As of June 14, Mark had lived at the Tiny Home community for three months. Throughout Mark’s life, he has experienced two different periods of homelessness. But it was the second experience that brought Mark to the 12 Neighbours organization.
During this period, Mark experienced life at the Fredericton homeless shelter. “You could not even leave your cell out to charge. Someone would steal it,” he recalled.
At Tiny Homes, Mark said he had experienced kindness from the staff. “The project gave me a safe place to stay, a job, and they are helping me with my teeth,” Mark explained.
The 12 Neighbours Community project works with residents to help find employment around the property, such as painting and landscaping, to help supplement their income from Social Development.
On June 20, the community welcomed resident number 13 and created a community garden.
The organization has broken ground for the development of the Social Enterprise Centre with three businesses: a café will serve fresh roasted coffee and treats; an art and apparel shop will allow residents to sell items to the public; and a tiny home factory will build tiny homes for the 12 Neighbours Community and the public.
The Social Enterprise Centre aims to help residents develop confidence, learn skills, and earn money while “providing a space for external community support” such as art therapy, counselling and recovery programs, and job skills training.
The project intends to collect data over the next five years to show how successful this project can be, potentially motivating the government and philanthropic organizations to fund and establish similar programs.
The services and housing opportunities offered by the tiny home community is not in itself a solution to the housing crisis. It is a small piece of the intricate puzzle of actions needed to fix homelessness in Fredericton.
Clearly, there is also a need for policy responses to the factors that push people into homelessness in the first place. Why not invest provincial or philanthropic funds to build more co-operative rental properties, with support from social enterprise, government, and non-profit organizations?
Provincial policies to protect existing tenants from massive rent increases also need to be strengthened, as do efforts to stimulate construction of affordable rental units for average middle- to lower-income New Brunswickers.
Now more than ever there is a need for greater government protection of vulnerable tenants, including families and elderly renters whose are not yet homeless.
With such actions to address the root causes that push such renters into homelessness, tiny homes can be a part of the solution for those who are already struggling on the streets.
Mark Robinson is a researcher and writer working out of the Human Environments Workshop (HEW) funded by RAVEN.
