W.With home prices soaring dramatically, the organization is focused on creating solutions for Southern Arizona. Habitat for Humanity Tucson recently showcased its new CHUCK Center. His CEO of the project, Charlie Buchanan, called out an equivalent answer to the growing problem.
“This is a crisis that we haven’t seen in generations,” Buchanan said. “This is no longer a low-income challenge, it is a challenge for everyone. Redefining housing affordability.”
The purpose of the new Connie Hillman Urban Construction Knowledge Center is to support the shortage of affordable housing in Greater Tucson and address the need for a skilled workforce. Habitat Tucson will be able to prefab homes and store materials in temperature-controlled warehouses. The center will facilitate housing production as well as education for local schools, colleges and other programs.
This is a non-profit development, Buchanan noted, which could improve the quality of work within Habitat Tucson.
“We build homes, communities and hope,” said Buchanan. “This is nothing new to us, but it is certainly on a different scale. The ultimate goal is to provide more housing solutions in challenging environments.”
The Chuck Center has offices, classrooms and a large warehouse. Habitat Tucson will use this space to store tools and materials for community-wide projects, including prefabricated he panels manufactured in-house.
A single-story house under 1,500 square feet requires 18-26 panels, while a two-story house of the same size requires 24-32. CHUCK Centers serve approximately 5-8 households.
Tony Lundberg is an AmeriCorps member at Habitat Tucson and has worked on past challenges related to building these panels and sourcing materials.
“That would delay the progress of construction,” Lundberg said. “At some point during construction in Marana, we were unable to source doors, windows, or even timber. It is beneficial to have all these delicate materials safe and dry indoors.”
The Chuck Center was primarily funded by the Connie Hillman Family Foundation, along with other organizations and nonprofits such as the Stonewall Foundation, Bank of America, and the City of Tucson. Its partners, as in the case of AmeriCorps, donate not only money but also labor donations to the facility.
AmeriCorps donates workers to volunteer for the Habitat Tucson Project. This is her one of the options for members to serve intensively for her one year. Most organizations and nonprofits provide housing, Lundberg said, but Habitat Tucson didn’t have the budget for it in the past few years.
(Veronica Kaffel/staff)
A large tool bench with equipment for a group of workers, students and volunteers in the Chuck Center warehouse space.
Chuck Center is building a duplex house in its backyard to meet the needs of out-of-state AmeriCorps members. Lundberg expressed relief with future members and access to this housing.
“Members of AmeriCorps receive only small scholarships for their service, making life difficult for most people in Tucson,” said Lundberg. “It is very difficult to pay for rent and groceries with scholarships, so it is a necessary means for nonprofits like Habitat to find affordable or provided living.”
Another important part of Habitat Tucson’s commitment to the Chuck Center is to provide educational resources to assist trade students. The nonprofit started this by partnering with Pima Community College’s Building & Construction Technologies program. Lundberg on his AmeriCorps team in Tucson was one of his past students in the program.
Currently, due to limited space on campus, BCT Discipline Coordinator Himat Khalsa visits Habitat Tucson with his class every week. Pima Community College is working to increase its program facilities, but for now, the CHUCK Center allows students to gain real-world experience and make an impact in the community.
“A lot of this has been facilitated through the CHUCK Center because of the focus on hands-on training,” Khalsa explains. “We may have people from different industries here interacting with students while we build. These are difficult features to simulate in a lab environment.”
Khalsa and his students use the CHUCK Center to build and design homes for use throughout the region by Habitat Tucson to complete a variety of curriculums. The joint goal of the university and nonprofit is to have 100 of his student learners in the construction industry by 2023.
Partnerships between programs, organizations and nonprofits not only create hands-on learning experiences, but also contribute to Habitat’s goal of universal housing. Here in Southern Arizona, Buchanan and Habitat for Humanity will continue to fight the housing crisis and develop new and innovative solutions to help Tucson.
“The CHUCK Center acknowledged that the current situation does not meet the need to support the affordable housing crisis,” Buchanan said. “Possibilities and partnerships will create opportunities for trade students and their careers, as well as opportunities for families to stabilize.”
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