Gen-Z Philadelphia couple from successful families shoot to fame as HOMELESS influencers insist living in a tent is better than getting a job or having to pay rent

A Gen-Z couple from Philadelphia have become homeless influencers after vlogging their tent-living and claiming that homelessness is a 'flex.' 

Leland Brown Jr. and his girlfriend Breanna Hubbard have shot to fame for uploading videos documenting their lives as 'homeless' people living in a tent with yoga mats as beds and a makeshift toilet. 

Brown, 28, was kicked out of his family home by his father after he refused to get a job. 'He told me I was grown and have a son, so I needed to figure it out,' said Brown, who has a seven-year-old son who lives with his mother. 

The 28-year-old then moved in with Hubbard, 22, and her family in Hatfield - but after that didn't work out, the pair packed up and moved to the woods in September 2022.

Brown was excited to experience the outdoors, having never even been camping, but the harsh reality soon set in. 'It was a lot once we got everything settled,' he said. 'It was crazy dealing with the animals and the cold.' 

Leland Brown Jr. and his girlfriend Breanna Hubbard have shot to fame for uploading videos documenting their lives as 'homeless' people living in a tent with yoga mats as beds and a makeshift toilet

The couple moved to the woods - where they currently live in a tent decked out with a full house setup

In the tent, carboard is laid over the ground as well as fluffy rugs. They use yoga mats, two eac, and air mattresses as beds and make their pad cozy with pillows and blankets

They even have a 'stove top' and frying pans where they cook meals and cleaning supplies to wash their dishes

Six months after becoming homeless and moving to the woods, the pair began vlogging their experience and sharing videos online.

Brown lost his job after a year - but the couple's videos had been getting millions of views online, so they decided to embrace life as influencers. 

Hubbard's mother encouraged the pair to go to a local U-Haul lot to escape the cold, edit their videos and do 'office work.'

They made themselves at home in their unit, even setting up furniture and turning the storage box into a tiny housing quarter. 

The couple did a three-part TikTok series documenting experience living in a storage container - which generated more than 22 million views and even made national news.

Their makeshift house was taken away after U-Haul caught wind of their scheme. 

'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 moved back the woods - where they currently live in a tent decked out with a full house-setup.

A charging station is used to power the couple's phones and laptops

Brown says he prefers the term 'house-lessness' and has even described the 'low-cost lifestyle' as a 'flex,' boasting that their living situation is a sacrifice worth enduring for the independence that comes with it

In the tent, carboard is laid over the ground as well as fluffy rugs. They use yoga mats, two each, and air mattresses as beds and make their pad cozy with pillows and blankets.

A charging station is used to power the couple's phones and laptops, and they even have a 'stove top' and frying pans where they cook meals, and cleaning supplies to wash their dishes.

Brown says he prefers the term 'house-lessness' and has even described the 'low-cost lifestyle' as a 'flex,' boasting that their living situation is a sacrifice worth enduring for the independence that comes with it.

'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.

Brown hails from a successful family. His father is a principal engineer and director of a military and aerospace communications company. 

The father and son have an understanding, 'My dad is saying [I] have to stay in the woods and make it work,' Brown said. 'He's trying to teach me to be strong and survive.'

'I believe Leland has been very clear this is a choice he has made and he stands on his choice,' his father 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.' 

Hubbard's family have welcomed her back into their home, but she has denied them - saying, 'I had to leave to be the best version of myself.' 

Brown and Hubbard faced controversy in January, after it was revealed that they accepted money from a homeless charity despite having almost $4,000 from a GoFundMe and making thousands on some of their TikToks.

The owner of the homeless charity said she felt 'taken advantage of' after the pair accepted a stay in a hotel room and other offerings from the charitable lady.   

Their excuse was that they don't want to 'mess' with the money they've made by making TikToks, or the thousands that has been donated to them on GoFundMe.

The pair even have a computer-setup in their tent 

They caption videos things such as 'When You're Homeless and Get Bullied,' 'When You're Homeless In a Tent' and 'When Your Parents Kick You Out'

Hubbard's family have welcomed her back into their home, but she has denied them - saying 'I had to leave to be the best version of myself,' she said

Brown and Hubbard faced controversy in January, after it was revealed that they accepted money from a homeless charity despite having almost $4,000 from a GoFundMe and making thousands on some of their TikToks

They want to save their money and spend it on a van or RV at some point in the future. 

'We don't wanna work the rest of our lives,' Breanna said, with Leland adding 'at a traditional job.' 

On top of their influencer funds and GoFundMe donations, the pair have also rented cars to do DoorDash runs and cleaned hotel rooms to make some extra cash.

In a February video, titled 'When You're Homeless & Not Getting a Job #genz,' Brown said he planned to be an 'entrepreneur'.

'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 percent of those jobs. It's not for me. I'm an entrepreneur, self-made, and so is [Hubbard].' 

The couple currently have 177,000 followers on TikTok and more than three million likes. Their top video has over 16 million views. 

Recent videos show the pair bathing in a hotel bathroom, cleaning their 'home' by sweeping up, wiping down their furniture and doing their dishes. 

They caption videos things such as 'When You're Homeless and Get Bullied' and 'When Your Parents Kick You Out'.