A new construction partnership between the Waterhen Lake First Nation and YC homes will see high school students learn skills associated with home building, leading to the construction of a house.
The 12 students will be educated on several aspects of building a house from; foundations, framing, drywall, finishing, electrical, plumbing and financial literacy.
Councilor Blaine Fiddler said the First Nation struggles to build homes because of a lack of funding, with creativity needed to get more houses.
“Its about youth empowerment. They get hands on training. They will get the opportunity to earn some extra money working at the school, while getting some high school credits,” Fiddler explained. “Every year we struggle to build homes. The leadership decided to get the youth involved more in our housing program. We need to find creative ways to get more units on our reserve so this is one of them.”
Following the in-school theory, the students will be tasked with building a 465 square foot one bedroom unit, which will be given to a local elder.
“With this program we are getting the youth involved, it creates education and training as well as work experience. We have a lot of youth that want to attend university but our post-secondary funding is limited so this gives us another career path for the youth to pursue,” Fiddler explained.
(Photo: Signing ceremony with YC Homes. Courtesy of Blaine Fiddler)