When Allan Smith and Chanda Woodworth got evicted from their rent-subsidized apartment, it began a long journey of living in hotels and eventually on the street before settling into a new tiny home community.

The journey there wasn’t easy.

“Our blankets and pillows would get wet,” she said in an interview Saturday.

“I would do laundry and take my clothes back to the tent, and it would rain and everything was soaked. It was just very rough for us and it actually came to a point for us where I didn’t think Al was even going to make it. He was just not eating you know, we were so hungry.”

Both said there were nights when they didn’t know if they would even wake up the next day.

Then the news came they got a tiny home in the 12 Neighbours Community, created by businessman Marcel LeBrun. His not-for-profit 12 Neigbours Inc. plans to build a community of tiny homes on a 24-hectare plot of land on Fredericton’s north side.

The 12 Neighbours Community will feature a total of 96 tiny houses with 12 on each block. Each 23-square-metre home has a full kitchen, three-piece bathroom, living space and loft storage.

A full-fledged neighbourhood, the community will have plenty of green and mixed-use space. It will also have a social enterprise centre with a cafe.

The organization worked with the Fredericton City Council to get approvals for the lot and the building permits. It is partially subsidized by the Fredericton co-ordinated access system, which is managed by Social Development and other housing agencies and non-profits in the city.

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