‘Homelessness flex’ isa
A US couple who went viral for staying in a storage unit wants to prove that living minimally is not the end of the world.
LIKE many Gen Zers, Lansdale couple Leland Brown Jr and Breanna Hubbard gave Tiktok viewers a tour of their new home, hours after they moved in.
The space was just large enough to fit a twin-size mattress, a small couch, a dresser and a wall of storage boxes. But no windows, bathroom or kitchen. It also happened to be located inside a storage unit in North Wales, Pennsylvania, the United States.
The container was an upgrade from their previous digs, a tent in the woods of Montgomery County. Brown and Hubbard, who spent most of their days creating videos, live a “minimal lifestyle” to avoid what they call the stresses of employment and costly housing.
According to a 2022 survey conducted by Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored finance company, adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have mostly positive thoughts about homeownership. But over one-third of them say it’s outside of their financial reach.
“We think it’s more beneficial for us in the long run,” Hubbard said of living outdoors. “We’re not looking at how much we make now, we’re looking to build up our businesses and to work for ourselves. We want to make our own money by sharing our life, which we’re having success with.”
A mutual friend introduced the pair in March 2022, and they have shaped their online presence and living situation in tandem ever since.
It wasn’t always meant to be so “minimal”.
Brown and Hubbard were among the 31% of Gen Z who were living at home due to high housing costs. After continued disagreements with his father, who wanted the 28-year-old Tiktoker to pursue a more sustainable career, Brown was kicked out of his parents’ home in Montgomery County in May 2022.
“He told me I was grown up and have a son, so I needed to figure it out,” said Brown, whose seven-year-old son lives with his mother.
Brown then moved in with Hubbard, 22, who was living with her family in Hatfield. That didn’t work out, so they packed up their bags and moved to the woods in September 2022.
Brown, who had never been camping before, was excited to adopt the new lifestyle. But he quickly learned how difficult it was living outdoors.
“It was a lot once we got everything settled,” Brown said. “It was crazy dealing with the animals and the cold.”
After six months, Brown and Hubbard adapted to the new living situation and decided to chronicle their journey.
In December 2023 he posted videos that showed him taking leftover food from his job at a nearby hotel to the tent. Brown lost his job soon after – but the videos generated millions of views on Tiktok and Youtube.
Around the same time, Hubbard’s mum encouraged the couple to visit a nearby U-haul store for an occasional break from the cold, and for a place where they could edit their videos
and do other “office work”.
The couple saw the storage units there as an opportunity to have a low-cost home of their own, at least while they saved money for a more permanent space.
They started by taking naps inside the U-haul store, then moved their belongings into one unit. Over time, they organised furniture and made it into a small housing quarter.
They posted the three-part series on Tiktok, which generated over 22 million views and made national news, with outlets like CBS News, Complex and Yahoo News reporting on their move into the climate-controlled space.
Within days, U-haul management asked the couple to leave.
“Residing in a self-storage unit is a violation of state and federal housing laws,” Jeff Lockridge, a spokesperson for U-haul International wrote in an email to The Inquirer.
“I was always prepared to get kicked out because of the video,” Brown said. “I didn’t expect it to become as viral as it was, but when it did, I knew I
couldn’t delete it. I was making money off of it, so we had to run with it.”
The couple stayed in a U-haul truck for a night before moving their stuff back to the Lansdale woods.
Brown and Hubbard currently live inside a large camping tent, filled with bundled blankets, an air mattress and a power bank to charge their electronics.
Brown, who prefers the term “house-lessness”, said tent life is less than ideal. But the independence that comes with the low-cost lifestyle, he feels, is a sacrifice worth enduring.
“I’m very educated and intelligent, and so is (Hubbard), but people tell us how to live because their perspective in life is different,” Brown said.
While Brown had asked to move back in with his parents in the past, he said he and his father have now come to an understanding.
“My dad is saying (I) have to stay in the woods and make it work,” he said. “He’s trying to teach me to be strong and survive.”
His father, Leland Brown Sr, a principal engineer and director of a military and aerospace communications company, said he had his concerns, especially when Brown and Hubbard moved into the storage container. Still, “I believe Leland has been very clear this is a choice he has made and he stands on his choice”, Brown wrote in an email.
“If no harm is caused to anyone, content development is a good method to share his approaches on how he wants to live his life, while allowing others to follow his journey.”
While Hubbard’s parents have invited her back home, she’s continued to say no. “I had to leave to be the best version of myself,” she said.
Since last year, the couple has monetized videos of their daily exploits. They clean up in hotel bathrooms, use rented vehicles to run Doordash deliveries and make food in a portable grill placed in the trunk of an electric car, all the while defending their house-free lifestyle against the naysayers who comment under their posts.
The couple is enrolled in the Youtube Partner Program and Tiktok’s Creator Fund, which allow certain users to monetise their videos based on views, engagements and other metrics. Brown said they pull in roughly US$750 (RM3,530) a week from their videos.
In a February video, titled “When You’re Homeless & Not Getting a Job #genz”, Brown talked about his desire to be an entrepreneur rather than working for someone else.
“I’m not getting no job,” he said in the Tiktok video. “I’ve had jobs in the past, and I’ve got fired at 90% of those jobs. It’s not for me. I’m an entrepreneur, self-made, and so is (Hubbard).”
In response to the video, one Tiktok user commented “if you can’t handle a 9-5, you most definitely cannot handle entrepreneurship”.
Brown and Hubbard admit negative comments often get under their skin, especially when people suggest they are faking their lifestyle or meaninglessly avoiding employment.
“I’ve been saying homelessness is a flex, and I believe that with my heart and soul because of the challenges homeless people endure,” Brown said. “People don’t understand that.”
Still, Brown says he recognises his and Hubbard’s living situation is a lot different from many unhoused people. They are located in a relatively quiet suburb and can earn a steady flow of income from their videos.
“We got very lucky,” he said. “I grew up here half of my life, so that’s a privilege.”
Tyler Greene, who has known Brown since they were in elementary school, is happy his friend is garnering attention online, but “I want him to get out of that tent”, he said.
The couple will continue living in the woods for now, but Hubbard said they intend to save money and eventually buy a tiny home before starting a family together.
They currently want to purchase an RV and document van life. (A recent social media trend focuses on #vanlife, where people live out of modified vans. It’s often promoted as a bohemian way to travel and save money, but critics say it’s really “glorified homelessness”.)
Their only hurdle is a lack of payment and credit history.
In the 2022 Freddie Mac survey on homeownership, insufficient credit history and unstable employment were two of the top five obstacles preventing young adults from purchasing a home.
“We have to be more patient, live out in the woods for three or six more months, and just be more financially intelligent,” Brown said. “We’re just waiting for the right time while we live in the wilderness.”
As they continue to chase their entrepreneurial dreams, which include starting a clothing and pottery business, Hubbard said they want to change the negative perception of unhoused people through their content.
“It’s not the end of the world to be homeless or live minimally,” she said. “It’s an opportunity we have to work on ourselves.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer/ Tribune News Service