photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The first home produced entirely by students at Peaslee Tech was delivered to its new address at 914 Ward St. Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.

Usually, the process of moving into a new home doesn’t also involve moving the entire structure itself, but that’s exactly what happened Wednesday at 914 Ward St. in eastern Lawrence.

By late morning, a roughly 385-square-foot home had been placed on its foundation at the site. But just hours earlier, the structure was still patiently waiting in Peaslee Tech’s parking lot to be lifted by crane onto a trailer and towed to its new address about 2 miles away.

This was the end result of one of Peaslee Tech’s newest classes, a partnership with Tenants to Homeowners that has Peaslee students building small homes — including plumbing, electricity, heating and air conditioning — in the classroom. From there, the homes are to be towed to sites around Lawrence and utilized as affordable housing by Tenants to Homeowners via the nonprofit’s community land trust portfolio.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

A home produced by Peaslee Tech students is lifted by crane onto its foundation at 914 Ward St. Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.

Rebecca Buford, Tenants to Homeowners’ executive director, told the Journal-World that the nonprofit owns two lots on the Ward Street property, and the hope is to eventually create something like a “cottage community” made up of a quartet of these small one- or two-person homes.

“How exciting is it when you think about (that) density doesn’t have to be giant apartment complexes?” Buford said. “It can still be neighborhood-feeling little houses in a ‘cottage community.'”

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

As the home was being lowered to the ground, workers were already inside to ensure it was set down steadily.

That’s a possibility that’s dependent on changes to the city’s code, though. Buford said Tenants to Homeowners is currently working with the city to refine its ordinance so building two small homes on each lot would be allowed.

If that ultimately works out, Buford said the group of new homes would help to “create community” in the neighborhood around them. She said that could manifest in ways like a senior resident and a younger person who live next door to each other, for example, and can take care of each other.

That’s just as much a part of affordable housing as building the housing itself, Buford said. So, too, is striking a balance between adhering to the character of a neighborhood and meeting the community’s current needs when adding new affordable housing.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

After being set down, people worked inside the home to attach it to its foundation.

“I think part of that conversation has to acknowledge the new needs of housing supply,” Buford said. “You can’t say, ‘Well, we want everything to look the same’ if five-bedroom ranchers are not going to meet the housing needs of the Lawrence population. We have to adapt a little bit. We agree to fit the character, but we’re not going to build giant houses when no one wants giant houses.”

Next time around, the process may look a little different, Peaslee Tech CEO Kevin Kelley told the Journal-World Wednesday. Instead of constructing the entire structure at the school, future classes may instead build the homes in three pieces that can be combined once they arrive at their future work sites. That way, Kelley said they’ll be easier to move without the help of a full-sized crane.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Workers guide the home, which here is being lifted by a crane, onto a trailer in Peaslee Tech’s parking lot.

But either way, Buford said it’s a win-win any time the nonprofit can add another affordable home somewhere in the community.

“What’s cool, I think, is Peaslee is also learning,” Buford said. “This is our first one; there’s several things that we’ll get better at, and they’re looking at in the training aspect. It’s just going to get better and better.”