Poudre High School students start second Habitat home

Students at Poudre High School are taking their math skills outside the classroom to build a home for a local family in need.

Poudre Builds, a project launched by three geometry teachers at Poudre High School in Fort Collins, started its second Habitat for Humanity home this year. Last year, the program helped build a home for Fort Collins resident Erin Nagel. The house was moved from the high school to its lot earlier this year and is undergoing final touches.

Roughly 80 students this school year will build a home for Carolyn and Marin Loughlin. The mother and daughter currently share a room together in Fort Collins.

"I'm like most people in Fort Collins," Carolyn Loughlin said. "My rent goes up every year, more and more. ... You cut back so much, but there comes a time when you can't cut back anymore."

Carolyn said she saw an advertisement for Habitat for Humanity and decided to apply for the no-interest, fixed mortgage program, which requires homeowners to put in 500 hours of sweat equity building their homes alongside volunteers. Mortgages do not exceed 30 percent of a family's gross income.

The Loughlin's home will be the 63rd Habitat for Humanity home built in Fort Collins since the organization began

The Poudre Builds program is one of about 200 "geometry and construction" programs across the country. Most schools tackle a dog house or shed, Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Kristin Candella said. Poudre High School is one of six programs that build homes.

Candella said the program, which was started by Poudre High School teachers Steve Sayers, Nathan Savig and Justin Koehn, helps students understand the need for math and introduce them to possible careers in construction.

"If the funding was there to fund these houses, we would do them all day long and have every school involved," Candella said. "It allows us to make a bigger community ripple, a bigger community impact."

A typical Habitat home requires a sponsorship of $100,000 for "bricks and sticks." Poudre Builds helps combat these costs by seeking donations of materials, skilled labor and cash to finish their homes.

At the end of the school year, Habitat will buy back the home at a discounted rate. Unlike most Habitat homes, which are built directly onsite, the Loughlin's home will need to be moved to a lot and finished by Habitat for Humanity volunteers.

That lot is yet to be found, Candella said.

"This is a house without a home right now," she said. "Come May and June when they want to move it, I don't have an affordable lot."

Candella hopes to find a community partner to donate a lot or offer a lot at an affordable cost.

When the home is finished and in its final resting place, Marin said she's most excited to have her own room and to know that her mom will have a place of her own when Marin, 18, moves out.

Carolyn is looking forward to stability.

"I'm going to have a home and be able to afford it and work for it," she said. "I'm just really humbled to have that opportunity."

How to help

If you have access to an affordable lot for the Loughlin's home, email Kristin Candella, kcandella@fortcollinshabitat.org. 

If you want to donate money or services to the Poudre Builds project, email Steve Sayers, ssayers@psdschools.org. 

Video

Watch a video of Poudre High School students raising the first wall of the Loughlin's home at www.coloradoan.com. 

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