Once unhoused, residents of this tiny home community are now entrepreneurs

A small community in Fredericton is offering people experiencing homelessness affordable housing and a fresh start as entrepreneurs. Sarah Plowman reports.

A tiny home community in Fredericton offering safe and affordable housing to people who would otherwise be homeless is giving its residents a fresh start as entrepreneurs.

Once homeless and feeling hopeless, Petra Hanes, 27, now has both a home and hope. She also has her own business.

Hanes lives in one of 99 tiny homes at the 12 Neighbours community on Fredericton’s northside.

She sells her handmade pillows, stickers and coasters in a retail space next door where about a dozen people who were once unhoused are now blossoming entrepreneurs.

At Neighbourly Ventures, staff are on hand to support and guide the business owners. Each new entrepreneur has surprised themselves.

“I really didn’t think I was going to survive this long,” said Hanes, noting how she was homeless on and off for six years and at times suicidal before arriving at 12 Neighbours.

While CTV News visited the shop, several customers walked in. All were impressed by what was for sale.

One customer bought one of Hanes’ stickers.

“I think it’s cool. It’s definitely really helped me,” she said.

The money, skills and confidence each entrepreneur earns is replacing self-doubt.

Amelia Arsenault, another entrepreneur, has created colouring books made from her drawings.

Of the fifty copies she printed, nearly all have sold. She also makes stickers, buttons, earrings and beaded necklaces and bracelets.

“Being able to actually have this, like, a thing and it’s really happening. It’s mind blowing,” she said.

She had always thought of herself as an artist, but never imagined she’d be in business like this. When she first arrived at 12 Neighbours, she barely left her house. Now she works at the store three days a week and continues to work on her art when she can.

“It’s mostly about helping people grow and find themselves. I think, like find a purpose.”

Marcel LeBrun is the mastermind behind 12 Neighbours. Besides 99 tiny homes that house more than 100 people, the operation includes a workshop that builds homes, a café where some residents work, a print shop and the Neighbourly Ventures program. He believes purpose is key to unlocking people’s potential.

“To see somebody go from unhoused to housed, obviously people think, well, that’s great. They’re safe and they’re warm, but from going from to have a sense of purpose is the most transformative thing by far,” said LeBrun.

Susan Hayward turns scraps of wood leftover from home builds into colourful miniature tiny homes, or other wooden pieces like pumpkins or animal key chains.

She didn’t think of herself as a painter before, but she does now.

“Trying to be happy every day. That was my main goal. I want to be happy every day and this is bringing me happiness,” she said.