photo by: Contributed

Students with Limestone Community School in Lawrence meeting with Robert Brooks (center), a person who experienced homelessness who is the tenant at a new home in eastern Lawrence that the students helped design.

A simple two-word question — “what if?” — and the limitless imagination of children is what sparked a two-year-long process that led to a formerly homeless person being housed.

Madeline Herrera, the co-founder and director at Limestone Community School in Lawrence, said that as students began returning to class in January 2023 after winter break, she was working to figure out what the class’s next big project would be. Project-based learning is a huge part of Limestone’s curriculum, and Herrera said she had just read a book by Levar Burton about the power of “what if.”

As she was asking her class of first and second graders what their “what if” questions would be, Herrera said the first question that was asked was, “What if everyone had a home?”

“The kids really sparked it,” Herrera said. “Hands started going back to thinking about how to solve that question.”

After brainstorming more questions and figuring out how to turn this “what if” into action, the students were jumping up and down with excitement, “completely convinced” that they were going to build a home someone could move into.

“There was no doubt in their mind,” Herrera said.

With that optimism and many willing partners, those first and second graders began drafting plans to build homes. Two years later, with help Tenants to Homeowners, the design firm Multistudio and Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, one of their designs became a reality, and they hope it won’t be the only one.

“This was an example of other people and organizations agreeing and coming together to not only solve this problem, but also amplify the voices of children,” Herrera said.

• • •

Rebecca Buford, has worked with many groups of students before.

Buford, the executive director of Tenants to Homeowners, said her nonprofit has worked with students from the University of Kansas and Peaslee Tech to help build houses or apartments. When Buford heard from a parent at Limestone about the project of designing and building an affordable house, asking if the organization could get involved, she was interested right away.

Buford said the group had several lots ready for use and some funding available for supportive service housing.

But Buford assumed at first that it was a group of high school or college students. When she found out it was elementary school students, it was a bit of a surprise, but it was inspiring for her nonprofit.

Buford said she has worked for 23 years in the affordable housing field and has seen and heard all sorts of reactions around the topic of homelessness and affordable housing. She said it can feel disheartening when some people in the community have “ugly reactions” or fears about what can happen by working on affordable housing. Working with the students became a great opportunity “for a feel-good story,” and it heartened the team to see the amount of compassion the students brought to their work.

“It was a breath of fresh air and reminded us why we care about housing,” Buford said.

• • •

Herrera said one of the keys for the project was working with Multistudio. She said they had worked with firm before on different projects and found they “always believed kids were capable of big things.” When it came time to try to execute this ambitious project, she figured they would be a great partner.

“Let’s get people on board we don’t have to convince,” Herrera said.

At first, Herrera said the firm sent over a few architects each week for the rest of the school year. They helped teach the students about basics of design — making sure things were structurally sound, teaching them how to make scale models and working on the nitty-gritty details like designing roofs. The students were split into groups of four, and each designed one house.

Steve Vukelich, an associate principal with Multistudio, said that working with the students, he noticed their compassion and perspectives “shaped a home with purpose.” Herrera said once Tenants to Homeowners allowed the use of a plot of land for the home, they found that they needed to adapt or make changes to the design based on the use.

Another topic that the students focused on was making sure that they build a structure that was affordable. Buford noted one of the keys was energy efficiency, and that designing a home that’s both affordable to build and affordable to live in is very different than “just building a mansion.”

Herrera said that when Vukelich began making the plans for the house, he would work to make sure their voices were heard throughout the process. That included adjustments as granular as changing the placement of a window.

In August 2023, the students took part in a groundbreaking ceremony at the site. Then they learned another lesson: there is a lot of red tape involved in building things, and construction doesn’t happen overnight.

“The students learned construction never goes on time,” Buford joked.

Nevertheless, Herrera said the students were eager to know what was happening through the monthslong building process, and Vukelich kept them updated on the situation. Finally, in February, the house was complete. All that was left was to make it a home.

• • •

Randall Brooks and his dog Tigger were homeless for over a year, and he said he was starting to lose hope on finding a home.

Brooks was at one point living in a storage unit with Tigger, and said “I never thought I would be in a house ever again.” A friend helped connect him with the Bert Nash center, and soon after, Brooks said he was accepted into the Permanent Supportive housing program, and he ended up moving into new home designed by Limestone students in eastern Lawrence.

Buford said that when the students found out they were going to have someone move in, they began making signs for his arrival that said “Welcome Home.”

After Brooks and his dog settled in, on March 26, the students met the man who is now living in the house they designed. Herrera said the students were so excited to meet him and really hoped he was happy in his new home.

“All the students kept saying, ‘I hope he likes the house. I hope he likes how we designed it,'” Herrera said. “When we came back to the school, I asked what the experience was like. They said they couldn’t believe it. It felt very surreal, all this work and long timeline, and here is the person that gets to enjoy it.”

One Limestone student named River said it was “so cool seeing our design come to life.” Another student, Henry, said it was wonderful to see it built and think of the people who will actually live there like Brooks.

The support that Brooks received through Bert Nash and Tenants to Homeowners “restored (his) faith in mankind,” he said, after he never thought he would find housing again. In the time when he met the Limestone students, he thanked them and the teachers for the housewarming gifts and designing the home.

“I can’t thank the community enough,” Brooks said. “I would have never been able to do this without them.”

Herrera said that there are hopes that the students will eventually be able to build the four other houses they designed. She said that one designed for a family who works at the school is still ongoing, while the other two are further off.

Either way, the accomplishment of turning the kids’ “what if” question into a real house was a beautiful moment for Buford. She said she is proud the next generation is getting involved in affordable housing and housing issues, and hopes their sense of wonder and imagination inspire more solutions from others in the community.

“Having those kids be a part of the solution was great,” Buford said. “We need to remind adults in the community about how beautiful it can be to be part of the solution.”