Dauphin County Technical School, Brethren Housing Association, local officials and the new resident cut the ribbon on a newly-built home on Wiconisco Street.
A unique local project took hands-on learning to the next level, while helping the community.
After three years of construction work, Dauphin County Technical School (DCTS) and Harrisburg-based Brethren Housing Association (BHA) cut the ribbon on a new affordable home on Thursday.
The house, on the 600-block of Wiconisco Street, was condemned after being destroyed by a fire in 2020, until it was purchased for the project for only $500. Then, 140 students from DCTS, studying everything from construction technology to landscaping, got to work.
“The electrical work, the drywall work, the plumbing work was all completed by students. So, the students did 95% of the work,” DCTS instructor and project director Robert Brightbill said.
The completed project will provide affordable housing, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for a family transitioning out of homelessness.
Inside the newly-built home.
One student, 18-year-old Tony Maxwell, who was in ninth grade at the start of the project, said the process could be daunting, especially considering the state of the house when the project began.
“Each step was honestly really difficult at first, but working with Brightbill, he showed us techniques and ways to come around to everything. Nothing really became too challenging, because he was always there,” Maxwell said.
Brightbill said the project provided both real-world experience and a sense of community for the students.
“Whether it would be with some of the vendors and the contractors that we worked with that are now friends and partners of our program, or even working with themselves—learning to work amongst themselves for the greater good, that’s what I think the biggest takeaway for the students is,” Brightbill said.
BHA executive director Kait Gillis-Hanna considered the project to be the “perfect collaboration” between all groups involved.
“It’s a beautiful story of kids at our technical school building a home, local vendors all donating time and money, the government providing a grant for us to acquire the property, and then a homelessness organization moving a family from homelessness into having permanent housing,” Gillis-Hanna said.
The family planned to move into the home after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the same day.
“I spoke to the students on Tuesday, [I said] ‘you don’t even know the effects of the work you just did on what’s going to happen in their lives.’ [A home] changes so much for people, especially going from being housing insecure to having that stability. You can think about other things,” Gillis-Hanna said.
To learn more about Dauphin County Technical School, visit their website. To find out more about Brethren Housing Association, visit their website.
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