Fredericton man tackles affordable housing issue with mini-home reno business

A Fredericton man has developed his own approach for bringing affordable housing options to market.

For Jordan Hunter, the answer is sweat equity, community support and mini homes. 

Originally from Amherst, N.S., Hunter created First Rate Renovations to tackle issues around affordable housing in 2021, when housing prices began to skyrocket. 

"It's always been a problem, but since COVID [the issue] grew in exponential forms in many different ways for many different reasons," he said. 

At First Rate Renovations, Hunter partners with mini-home parks Harmony Communities, Tamarack Estates and New Maryland Parks, which let him know when mini homes are vacant, or will soon become vacant. 

"They are deemed either to be decommissioned or in need of major renovations," said Hunter, "and there are ones deemed unlivable due to previous tenants that lived there and might have neglected certain aspects of the home." 

By using his own sweat equity, finding discounted or fairly priced materials, salvaging as much as possible and saving everywhere he can without sacrificing quality, Hunter said he's able to restore these homes and bring them to market for between 15 and 40 per cent below market value. 

"I don't need a big payday — I just want to make people happy," said Hunter. 

When taking on a new home, Hunter said it's important that he gets to know the neighbours to better understand the history of it. 

"We need to gain knowledge of the homes in order to understand what we need to do to them and the biggest tool in order to make that happen is community," said Hunter.

He said the goal isn't to do the bare minimum with cosmetic changes for the home to be just livable, but rather to make sure the homes will last a family 20 to 30 years. 

So far, he's restored 11 mini homes — each one sold to a family grateful for a home they could afford, he said.

Hunter said one of the families had been looking for a house for over a year, but couldn't find an affordable option. 

"We're talking about people that work in the health-care industry, we're talking about people that have to move out of certain areas because of health reasons," said Hunter.