Juneau high school students are getting real-world building experience while creating much-needed affordable homes in the community. That’s thanks to a house build program that’s a partnership between the Juneau Housing Trust and Juneau School District.
On Wednesday, Raegan Adams fed pink fluffy insulation into a machine in the garage of a partially built home in Lemon Creek. The machine pushed the insulation through a long spiraling tube through the house and into its attic. She and her classmates are building the house she’s standing in.
Adams is a junior at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and one of the students enrolled in the district’s House Build program.
The district has offered many house building projects to students on and off, dating back to the 1970s. The program has seen multiple iterations over the years. Students who take the semester-long class get to learn hands-on construction skills by building new, energy-efficient homes that then go back into the community. Adams says she was hesitant to take the class at first, but now she’s glad she did.
“I think it’s a very important class that teaches skills everyone should have. Like, I’ve been telling my mom about stuff we do in the class. And she’s like, ‘Oh, you can do this to our house next,’” she said.
Students in this class are currently finishing up the sixth house in a small neighborhood of homes constructed by the program in Lemon Creek. Soon, they’ll begin laying the foundation for the seventh. The houses are located just past the Dzantik’i Heenicampus.
The City and Borough of Juneau made the land available for sale to the Juneau Housing Trust in 2017. The trust manages the land through a community land trust and works to ensure the homes can be purchased by low and middle-income community members.
Tamara Rowcroft is the board vice president of the Juneau Housing Trust. She said housing geared for low and middle-income buyers is unique, but desperately needed.
“I’ve been working in affordable housing for about 35 years here in Juneau. I lived here as a kid,” she said. “I know how hard it is to get housing that’s affordable.’
For the past two years, Juneau has had the highest average sale price for a single-family home in the state, according to a study by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Nathan Dutton is the school district’s career and technical education coordinator. He says offering alternative learning opportunities is crucial for students who may be looking for another path to a well-paying job after graduating that isn’t a traditional four-year degree.
“We have seen a drop in tradesmen throughout the nation, so being able to make this skillset available to our students is so important,” he said.
He said the house build program lets students explore if a trades career is for them.
“They’re getting amazing real-world experience that in other places you typically have to pay for or get accepted into a program,” Dutton said.
Jace Kihlmire is a senior at JDHS. He took the class to learn more skills to use when working at his dad’s construction company. But, he said, the takeaways from the class go beyond that. It gives him the confidence to take on what used to be difficult tasks.
“It applies to future careers as well as home life,” he said. “Like ‘oh, I put a hole in my drywall.’ Oh, cool. I know how to patch it up. Or ‘oh, I need to re-shingle my roof.’ Well, I know how to do that.”
And, though he’s learned a lot of skills during the class, he said he definitely has a favorite:
“Everything is fun about drywall,” he said. “As much as I hate removing it, installing it is the best.”
The class hopes to finish construction by the end of the year. The trust hopes to put the home on the market soon.
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