See inside a tiny-home village that gives homeless people $200-a-month houses — and has a waiting list of 700 people

• Millionaire Marcel LeBrun is building a tiny-home village in Canada, just north of the Maine border.
• It has 78 homes that rent for as little as $200 a month to formerly unhoused people.  
• Residents aged 18 to 71 have access to a laundry room, medical services, and career training.

It's been nearly two years since 12Neighbours, a tiny-home village in Canada, welcomed its first resident.

The micro-home community in Fredericton, New Brunswick, was founded by Marcel LeBrun, a former tech industry executive who sold his social-media listening startup to Salesforce for about $340 million in 2011.

LeBrun said he wanted to revolutionize how communities approach housing assistance.

"I thought carefully about what would really help versus what I, a rich white guy, thought was in the best interest of this community," LeBrun told Insider. "Could I build something unique that makes the city better and actually helps people move on, not be stuck in subsidized housing for the rest of their life?"

The village's 46 staff members work to provide affordable, permanent housing and developmental assistance to individuals who have experienced chronic homelessness.

The village is currently home to 77 residents — ranging in age from 18 to 71 — who pay as little as $200 a month for housing and utilities. As of November, the community contains 78 tiny homes, with LeBrun intending to increase the count to 99 by May 2024.

The village currently has a waiting list of 700 people, LeBrun said.

Residents have access to addiction and mental health counseling, medical services, and employment opportunities.

A province in southeastern Canada just north across the border from Maine, New Brunswick is known for its rugged coastline, unspoiled wilderness, and maritime industries including fishing and lobstering. Despite a relatively strong economy, the Fraser Institute think tank found that a considerable number of New Brunswick residents earn less than people living in other parts of Canada.

To help residents progress financially, a significant portion of the community is employed in 12Neighbours' own carpentry program or print shop, earning compensation that surpasses New Brunswick's minimum wage of $14.75 an hour.

"We may look like an affordable housing organization, but we really see ourselves as a community of developers of people," LeBrun said. "Our focus is to help people overcome barriers so they can experience full and independent lives."

Take a look inside the 12Neighbours tiny-home village.

12Neighbours sits on 55 acres of land in Fredericton, New Brunswick's capital city.

LeBrun, who purchased the land for $500,000 in 2021, said he initially had to convince local officials to support his tiny-home project.

"It was kind of a yes and a no: 'Hey, what you're doing is really cool, but you can't do it here,'" he said of the government's response. "I got them to support rezoning the area in a custom way that allowed me to build on the land."

The village is slated to have 99 homes, with 78 already complete and more on the way.

Every four days a new tiny home is built, LeBrun said, and each unit costs about $50,000 to build and furnish.

Residents at 12Neighbours benefit from subsidized rent, making it more feasible for them to afford housing in a costly real-estate market. According to Canadian personal finance website WOWA, the country's median home price is $288,050, as of September 2023.

"The housing market in New Brunswick is overpriced," LeBrun added. "It's a seller's market for sure. Everything is going above asking prices."

Each tiny home ranges from 240 to 294 square feet and has a kitchen, a bathroom, and a dining room.

The homes are constructed on site by 12Neighbours' building team, which includes both independently hired staff members and residents of the community. Of the village's 20 carpenters, three are community members.

"My original plan was to outsource to a number of different contractors," LeBrun said. "But then I decided to build a small team. Ultimately, we built our own little factory."

The tiny homes come fully furnished.

When residents move into their units, they receive a starter kit, which includes bedding, bath towels, shower curtains, cutlery, cleaning supplies, and more.

One resident, Randy, went from living in his car to living in the village and also building tiny homes for others.

The tiny homes are eco-friendly and equipped with solar panels.

"I have almost 300 kilowatts of solar across all the homes," LeBrun said. "It brings the utility cost down."

The village also has a community garden.

Village resident Mark Osborne didn't finish high school, but he now lives in one of the tiny homes and is studying for his GED, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Picnic benches are placed throughout the village, providing opportunities for residents to interact and build connections.

Samantha Seymour, who is in recovery for drug and alcohol addiction and was formerly homeless, moved into 12Neighbours in October 2022, according to the CBC. She received a pumpkin as a housewarming present.

"I have a great support system around me," she told the CBC, "and I'm doing the work necessary every day to stay there."

The village's 77 residents range in age from 18 to 71 and hail from diverse backgrounds.

12Neighbours does not keep an internal housing waiting list but instead takes referrals from the New Brunswick Housing waiting list via the department of social development, which oversees housing support in the province.

"The qualifications generally are individuals who've been struggling with chronic homelessness," LeBrun said. "No one's disqualified, but the only two criteria we have are that people need to be able to live independently, and then secondly is safety."

12Neighbours has a screen-printing business that is run by members of the community.

The print shop sells branded apparel which includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, and totes. The designs are made by the shop's employees.

"We want to get them as far along as they can, so that we're not just meeting more needs, but we're actually helping to reintegrate these people back into the economy and community," LeBrun said.

Seymour, the resident recovering from alcohol and drug addiction, is the "print lead," according to the CBC, putting silk-screen designs on tote bags and T-shirts.

12Neighbours is in the process of constructing a 12,000-square-foot "social enterprise center," akin to a community center, for the village.

LeBrun said the center will feature a café and a retail store that showcases merchandise produced by the screen-printing business.

"It will be a place where people can come to order a coffee and meet people they may not necessarily talk to every day," he said.