The quantity of affordable homes built by Evanston Township High School students got a little bit bigger last week as construction workers moved a tenth home from the high school to Washington Street in South Evanston.
The new home, now located at 1222 Washington St., is the first of its kind to locate in Evanston’s 9th Ward, according to 9th Ward City Councilmember Juan Geracaris. About 100 high school students built the two-story, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home in a math and trades class on campus grounds, according to Maryjoy Heineman, a mathematics teacher.
Geracaris said the program is “one of the best things we do in town.” The class, named Geometry in Construction, was created as a partnership between the City of Evanston, which purchases the land and puts it in a land trust, Community Partners for Affordable Housing, which manages the land trust, and the high school.
Interested buyers need to meet certain requirements from CPAH, including income requirements and household size. CPAH President Rob Anthony told Pioneer Press that the current waitlist for a person to buy a home with CPAH is about six months.
Eligible buyers typically apply for CPAH’s program, and not for a specific house, Anthony said. Buyers have the choice to apply for what’s available when it becomes available, he said.
High school students build the home on school grounds for safety purposes, according to Heineman. Professionals built the home’s foundation, which will not have a basement, but will have a crawl space, she said. Contracted professionals will also finish working on the interior of the home.
“People support the program,” Geracaris said of the new home on Washington Street.
“It’s hard enough to find housing in Evanston… and to have something that fosters affordable home ownership is really powerful. I think people are excited about that. Hopefully this is the first of many Geometry in Construction projects coming to the Ninth Ward.”
At previous City Council meetings, however, neighbors to the proposed site strongly opposed it during public comment sessions. Some neighbors wished for the lot to be preserved as a green space, and others were concerned that the home could negatively affect property values in the immediate vicinity.
The Council approved the purchase in an 8-1 vote. When asked how he makes decisions that are sometimes seen as controversial, Geracaris said, “I think it’s tough… at the end of the day, I want to do what’s right.”
“I also realize that sometimes the easiest thing to do in the moment might not be the right thing to do for the future,” he said.
“As we’re looking into our comprehensive plan and everything, I think there’s a desire to have a bigger emphasis on land trusts and figuring out how we can find more land that we can do that with.”
