COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA (KMTV) — Students at Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs built a house — and this week, it was carried down the street and dropped off on a neighborhood lot near 23rd Street and 6th Avenue.
It is the fourth house students in the school's TradeWorks program have built alongside Habitat for Humanity.
TradeWorks instructor Dean Giese walked down the neighborhood sidewalk as the house was moved on a rainy Tuesday morning.
"They get that first wall put together and they're like you know this is just like we did before. Then that confidence starts building and by the end of the semester you have a whole class full of project managers," Giese said.
Giese said watching students grow through the process is what drives him, and as a former alumnus of the school, he strives to have an impact in the local community.
"This is a house that's going right here in the neighborhood that these kids live in, and in 10, 15, 20 years when they're driving their own kids to school and they point and say hey that's the house I build in high school. That's the part that I would say would be my favorite," Giese said.
Student Jeffrey Plumb was one of the first on the team to arrive for football practice that same morning. Giese says he's one of his brightest students. he helped build the house and said the trade opportunities are helping him explore career options for the future.
The vacant lot near 23rd Street and 6th Avenue had sat empty for over a decade neighbors say. Rachelle Kienbaum and Charlene Blohm live right next door and complained about it being an eyesore.
Blake Johnson, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs, said the need for housing extends well beyond the city.
"The housing shortage is not specific to Council Bluffs it's country wide," Johnson said.
Habitat for Humanity is looking to close on the home this year. Anyone interested in buying can visit habitatcb.org. Johnson says that the house cost about $200,000 to build and will be sold at a similar price.
Preparations are already underway for the next build at Thomas Jefferson High School, which will go on the same lot right next to the house that just went in this week.
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