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Construction
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Challenge Grant Approved to Kickstart Habitat Construction Project

at Elk River High School

Jim Boyle, Editor for The Star News Bouley, who grew up in Rogers, gradu-
A request for $100,000 in Housing Chal- ated from Elk River High School and now lives
lenge Funds made by the Elk River Area School in Zimmerman, looks forward to bringing this
District has been approved, setting the wheels in partnership to life to the area.
motion for a program that will allow Elk River ISD 728 has three traditional high schools
High School’s construction program to go from serving students in parts of Sherburne, Wright,
one that builds sheds to one that builds houses. Anoka and Hennepin County.
The plan is for high school students to start Lord said the district is looking at the pos-
building a house during the 2026-27 school sibility of having kids from the high schools in
year. The work will be part of a partnership with Rogers and Zimmerman come in and help or
the Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity, even do some construction aspects at their own
thanks to a $99,999 grant approved on May 22 school like trim work. Lord said it would be dif-
by the Minnesota Housing Board. ficult to build a house at each high school, so the
The Minnesota Legislature approved the district applied to have the program operated out
grant funding in the 2024 session, and the agency of the centrally located high school.
responsible for distributing the funds received Next school year will be dedicated to a
nine proposals totaling $735,468, all asking to planning stage, and the plan is to add the courses
serve communities in Greater Minnesota. These to the registration book by October for students
grants will support direct construction costs, signing up for classes in the 2026-27 school
budgeted as building materials, construction year.
tools and professional labor and support. “We don’t have a cool name yet, so we’re
Former Elk River Mayor Stephanie Klinz- going to have to figure out what our No. 1, No. 2
ing serves on the Minnesota Housing Board or No. 3 project will be called,” Lord said, refer-
and was able to make a motion for the grant velopment Authority on June 2 to explain the ties. Partnering with high schools and districts ring to Tiger 1, 2, 3 at St. Cloud Tech.
approval and cast one of the votes in a unani- program and how the HRA can help. is one way it achieves its goals. The plan is to do one house a year, and an
mous decision for the Challenge Grants. “I am super excited about this new partner- “We’ve been at this for a long time,” important feature of the partnership is the stu-
Klinzing said it was good to see the ISD ship that we’re building,” Lord said. “I think it’s Bouley said. “We’re starting to look for prop- dents will not be pressured to finish the house
728 reach out for funding. going to give our students so much more experi- erty for ‘Tiger 11,’ which would be the site of by the end of the school year.
“It seems like it’s often same people apply- ence.” its 11th home.” “The kids don’t finish the house,” Lord
ing,” Kinzing said. “They have done it before Lord explained how students are learning Students build these houses during the said. “We’re going to have volunteers help
and have the sophistication and scale to (apply). framing, roofing and some of the other basics of school year at the high school, and they are throughout the summer to finish the house. We
I was really delighted that some attention is construction, and this new partnership will help finished in the summer by volunteers and trans- don’t want the students to feel rushed. We want
being paid to this area.” them learn so much more. ported up to 15 miles to a Habitat for Humanity them to learn and learn well.”
The Elk River woman knows all too well “This house (project) is going to teach site. Bouley said that’s one thing they learned
housing is an issue in Sherburne County, as she them HVAC, plumbing, electrical, flooring and “What’s interesting about this program is in another school district, where quality control
sat on the County Board years ago when housing just so much more,” she said, noting that such that over half of the students that sign up for became an issue and the partnership unraveled.
concerns raised by the public were passed on. opportunities are not available to youth typi- these programs end up going into the trades or “That’s exactly what we’re not going to do
“We’d give them a one-way ticket to St. cally until they are 18 years of age. to school for the trades or both,” Bouley said. here,” Bouley said.
Cloud,” she said. The CMHFH service area includes “As we all know, getting people into the trades Denny Chuba, the chair of the HRA who
She said it’s getting better, and this is Stearns, Benton, Sherburne and Wright coun- is kind of important.” has had a long career in the construction trade,
another good step. But affordable housing and asked if they design the houses to be lot specific.
homelessness remain issues to be tackled in Bouley said they do, and noted that’s why
places like Elk River. the time to locate a site to purchase is now.
CMHFH was formed in 1989 to improve “We don’t want to start the house and then
availability of quality housing. With offices in be looking for a lot,” Bouley said.
St. Cloud, the organization has a geographic Members of the HRA, including Chuba,
focus that includes Elk River. The city of Elk expressed support for the program and said it
River has also been a recipient of affordable sounded like it would be a good one.
housing aid that has been allocated by the state. Bouley has asked for the HRA’s help in
The hope is to model the program after a finding a lot.
partnership with Central Minnesota Habitat for The community of Elk River has com-
Humanity in St. Cloud and Sartell-St. Stephen pleted three Habitat for Humanity projects, but
school districts. those were the culmination of more traditional
Students at St. Cloud Tech are working on community-led Habitat for Humanity models.
their 10th home in 10 years, and the operation is The high school in Elk River has not pre-
looking for a site for its 11th home to be built in viously built new homes, but they do have an
the coming school year. active construction program and have built over
Students in the Sartell-St. Stephen School 15 sheds over the past five years.
District are working on their fourth home and Reprinted with permission.
hope to be building their fifth next year.
Chad Bouley, the executive director of the
Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity, and
Amy Lord, coordinator of the school district’s
career and technical education programming, www.isd728.org
went before the Elk River Housing and Rede-