Originally published in print May 2025.

When Travis and Stephanie Unger bought a rooming house in the West End in the summer of 1999, their intention was simply to live with others. Well aware of the perceptions of a dangerous neighbourhood, and rooming houses in general, they moved into an 11-bedroom home in an area then called “Murder’s Half-acre” — wanting not only to build community, but to be built into it.

Twenty-six years later, they still call that rooming house home; they’ve lived with almost 100 different people; and their mission hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s grown: they are now the founders and owners of Five Stones Inc., a property management company working to bridge the gap between low-income and good-quality housing — and provide the kind of community they love.

Before moving to Spence Street, Travis and Stephanie were renters on Victor Street, and both worked for nonprofit organizations. Through their work, they each came to their own realization that they wanted to make a difference in a community — and the best way to do so was to live there.

“We lived on Victor for a number of years. And then when we wanted to buy our own house, we thought we wanted to buy as big of a house as we could find to kind of share life together with people. And then we came across a bunch of rooming houses on Spence,” said Travis. “We eventually bought the house that we are now living in.” In that era, rooming houses had a bad reputation: formerly a respectable low-cost mode of housing, by the 1990s rooming houses had become a way of warehousing the poor, explained Travis.

Their community-building adventure started with something people have gathered around for centuries: a meal. Each weeknight, Travis and Stephanie invited everyone in their rooming house to a community dinner.

“We wanted to be part of building or rebuilding a community, and that was what excited us,” Travis said.

Underlying this passion for community was their faith: “We’re Mennonites, and part of the Mennonite faith is to live out your faith together with people in community,” Travis said. “We’re not on the colonies, like the old school Mennonites used to be, but sharing life together with people is a good way to live.”

“Hard to love your neighbor if you don’t know em,” said Stephanie.

Another part of their involvement in the community is their role in Many Rooms Church: a group of house churches in the West End where people come together to worship in each other’s homes.

Within a few years, Travis and Stephanie had bought two more rooming houses across the street, and by 2019 they founded an official property management business — Five Stones — in order to start managing properties for other housing companies like New Life Ministries and Westminster Housing Society.

The name “Five Stones” was inspired by the Bible story of David and Goliath. They were “fighting homelessness with limited resources, and a lot of faith,” said Stephanie.

Since the first dinners in 1999 — which they continue to host every weeknight — they’ve started working with neighbours to organize community events like block parties and bonfires, and have held holiday gatherings for the tenants of their rooming houses.

“There’s a generosity that… wants to include neighbors,” said Marilyn Heidebrecht, a tenant at one of Travis and Stephanie’s properties who appreciated the opportunity to connect with other tenants in the area over a shared meal.

“Im really grateful for the way that they create those spaces for communities so that we can actually get to know one another,” said Shira Gamey, another tenant, who noted the way the block parties connect the neighbourhood.

In late January, Travis and Stephanie hosted some tenant appreciation events, where tenants of properties they manage were invited to gather for a community dinner and raffle.

At the event, tenant Sheila Head said she loves the freedom to improve her residence through gardening, and Ruby Schuman appreciated the safety and security of her home.

In our interview, Stephanie was careful to note that while they are making an effort to do something with care and intention, they aren’t perfect and will always be able to improve.

“It’s not actually amazing that we would do a tenant appreciation day.” She said despite tenants spending such a large portion of their income on rent, she hears of far more customer appreciation than tenant appreciation.

“Very often tenants are treated more as an inconvenience than customers who should be appreciated,” she said.

Another aspect of Travis and Stephanie’s community building is their continued involvement in the Spence Neighbourhood Association, an organization that works to improve housing, environment, local economy, and community spaces in the area.

“Over the years that we’ve lived here, either Steph or I have almost always been involved on the board,” Travis said.

As with all stories, Travis and Stephanie’s has not been one without challenges.

“As we’ve grown, we’ve bumped up into these different hurdles or barriers that we’ve had to overcome,” said Travis.

“Every time we’ve been part of a renovation project of any kind, it has always cost way more than we budgeted,” Stephanie said. “Every single time, during the process, the building codes and what is required of us have changed; and always added quite large expenses along the way.”

Rooming houses are considered commercial buildings, which means they must follow the same guidelines as one — like apartments and office buildings. Because of these standards, simple maintenance can end up costing much more than expected.

“I think it involves a lot of perseverance, finding a way through to something we know is worth doing” said Stephanie.

However, they said it’s “very rewarding work.” Stephanie recalled a time when they were robbed, and “it was neighbors on our street who brought us something.”

And that generosity is reciprocal: tenant Linda Kork recalled when she broke her ankle, and Stephanie brought meals to her third-floor residence.

“It’s very good work,” Travis said. “It’s meaningful work.”