Baltimore Bauhaus

Empowering kids to be unstoppable and transforming their city,
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Contact: Deane Nettles

Illustration of Baltimore rowhouse being rehabbed by students

2) Rehabbing Neighborhood Houses

A school for business needs a business to run. The business would be rehabbing housing in the neighborhood.

I've discussed this with Habitat for Humanity, and they are definitely willing to partner with this project. The cost of rehabbing a house is approximately the same cost as building a house, about $70,000 each. (If partnered with Habitat, they could provide the financing, eliminating our section #3, Building & Loan.)

It's possible this work could contribute to a model for the efficient rehabbing of buildings, including demolition, lead abatement, roofs, floors, walls, windows, electrical and plumbing. Rehabbed houses could include solar energy and other modern green technology, which the students would help install, increasing the students' value on the job market.

Tiny houses or shipping crate houses

If the city is willing to tear down sufficient old buildings, and students were being taught a construction curriculum instead of an industrial design curriculum, and the school was located in an old factory, instead of rehabbing old homes the students could build tiny homes ($20-$30,000) or homes made out of shipping crates ($30-$40,000) on the factory floor.

Either way, houses are return to tax roll and lived in by owners, not renters.

Habitat for Humanity

Addendum: As mentioned above, I discussed this project briefly with Matt Metzger, Director of Volunteer Engagement for Habitat for Humanity/Chesapeake on August 20, 2015 and again on May 31, 2017. He said: