GALLUP – A western New Mexico high school is making plans to become a tiny house factory to build affordable housing in a city near the Navajo Nation.
Hiroshi Miyamura High School in Gallup will begin a program to teach students about building tiny homes and the business behind them, the Gallup Independent reports.
Principal Jack McFarland said the program will provide real results and hands-on learning for students. He says the goal is to build around two tiny houses a year.
“The project will not involve the entire school,” he said. “It starts with freshmen and sophomores this year, and will develop into the junior and senior levels over the course of the program. The idea behind Pathways is to create better opportunities for students to go to college.”
Under the program, every student enrolls in a pathway with a three-teacher team.
The premise behind the tiny house project was to solve an existing problem within the community – in this case, affordable housing, McFarland said.
The tiny houses will be sold at auction at the end of the year to help recoup the costs of the project.
According to the U.S. Census, around 30% of Gallup’s 22,000 residents live in poverty.
