Alyssa N. SalcedoGreen Bay Press-Gazette
GREEN BAY - Students' hard work building two single-family homes was on display Wednesday.
“The work is done, and the paint is dry, and it was time to let everybody see what these young people have built here,” said Noel S. Halvorsen, president and CEO of NeighborWorks.
The local nonprofit organization hosted an open house, inviting community members to tour the homes in the 1100 block of Day Street that were built by local students through a partnership between Green Bay School District's Bridges Construction and Renovation program, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, NeighborWorks and several local construction and development companies.
Students in the Bridges program spend each school year building two homes together. This year, students had the opportunity to build neighboring houses, Halvorsen said.
“Having the two projects in such close proximity to one another, the students progressed faster than we’ve seen in some other years,” Halvorsen said. “So things that they might have just been exposed to in the past, like how to install flooring or how to do the finished trim, they were actually able to do that work … and get a much richer experience as a result.”
Both homes will be going on the market at about the same price. However, one of the homes will be restricted to sale for a household at or below 80% of the area’s median income. The other will be sold without any restrictions, Halvorsen said.
In 2020, the Green Bay Housing Market Study predicted that in order to meet the housing demands in Green Bay, 310 apartments and 375 single-family homes would need to be built each year until 2040.
Halvorsen said Green Bay is not on track to meet that goal because of the lack of available labor along with other complications leading to higher housing costs.
“One of the intentions of this program is to get young people ready for construction jobs, ready for work in the trades, so we can address the labor shortage that’s also contributing to the housing shortage. But we all need to build more in order to meet that demand,” he said.
Brian Frerk, the recently retired instructor of the Bridges Construction and Renovation program, says the program also goes beyond addressing labor shortages.
Some students take the class for the experience, looking to prepare themselves for when they one day own their own homes. Others are preparing for careers in the construction industry, architecture, interior design and more. The program also helps to connect students with potential employers after, and in some cases, before they graduate, Frerk said.
“We’re helping NeighborWorks by getting them free labor on the homes so it allows the house to be sold at a reasonable price to someone who’s making an average wage that can’t afford a new home,” Frerk said. “It also fills the need in Green Bay. … We’re able to help the city fill in these vacant lots within the city and make it financially feasible.”
The open house event helped to connect potential homebuyers with affordable real estate, giving them the opportunity to tour the new homes and connect with NeighborWorks.
Latina Williams of Green Bay is in the process of buying a home and attended the open house event with her two daughters. When she began the process of looking for a new home, she said she initially felt discouraged by the high prices. Touring the newly built homes at the open house, she felt the prices were reasonable.
“I think a lot of people, especially now with the inflation are looking for prices like this. …,” Williams said. “And especially, to have something beautiful.”
In addition to the two new homes built by students, NeighborWorks was recently approved by the city of Green Bay to build seven new townhomes, sold for owner occupancy, in the 400 block of Fourth Street. The townhomes will have three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a two-car garage. Four of these homes will be income-restricted affordable housing units, Halvorsen said.
“We’re absolutely committed to continuing to build single-family homes in partnership with Bridges and others in the community,” Halvorsen said. “But we also want to start building more densely populated projects, including ownership opportunities like the four-street townhome project … then we can start making more of a dent in the shortage that we’ve got in housing in our community.”
Alyssa N. Salcedo is a reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Email her at asalcedo@gannett.com.
