St. Cloud Area Schools Team Up to Build Habitat for Humanity Homes

(KNSI) – Three area high schools are helping Habitat for Humanity ramp up construction this year. Students at St. Cloud Tech, Rocori, and Sartell have all been working hard to nearly complete a home each in their trades programs. Those structures will be moved to vacant lots nearby come May. Habitat Executive Director Chad Johnson says his organization is still supervising, but the students are doing most of the construction themselves.

“We still serve as the general contractor of the project. We provide supervision and oversight and make sure they have everything they need to build the home. And we’re on-site as needed to help guide them, especially during critical points of the construction process.”

Johnson hopes to have all three homes sold by around year-end, perhaps the early stages of 2023. When the homes are moved, Habitat will finish the basement, garage, and do landscaping for each residence. Johnson says the eventual homeowner is putting in a lot of “sweat equity” as well.

“So, they have to give back 200 hours of their time, either into the house they will be purchasing, or into a different Habitat project. Or to a different community agency, another non-profit in the area.”

Johnson says that program applicants and construction crews don’t necessarily have the same schedules. If they cannot get them to align, applicants have the opportunity to put in time elsewhere and still have it count toward eventual homeownership.

Utilizing schools allows Habitat to expand the scope of its work in Central Minnesota. Johnson believes the organization will be better able to build away from the Saint Cloud metro area using this model. It is responsible for all of Stearns, Wright, Benton, and Sherburne Counties.

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