DC3 and CHAD Host Open House

Dodge City Community College (DC3) and the Community Housing Association of Dodge City (CHAD) hosted an open house on Tuesday, May 11, to show off this year’s CHAD house, which is located at 1601 Mulberry Circle.

Through this hands-on partnership, which is in its seventh year, DC3 students build houses from the ground up, learning all facets of building construction.

This year’s project, which began in October 2020, is a 1,200-square-foot, single-family home. It contains three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two-car garage.

“This house is built next door to the house we built in 2017,” Mollea Wainscott, Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation Assistant Director, said. “It will be finished in a few weeks and then listed with a realtor.”

Patrick Shiew, DC3 Construction Technology Instructor, said he thinks the project turned out great and the future homeowner will appreciate the extras the students built into the house.

“The tornado shelter is a unique feature this year, and this house is also zero entry, which makes it different than previous builds,” he said. “Zero entry means there are no steps coming in from the garage into the home. Basically, there are no steps to navigate.”

Wainscott said the ongoing partnership with DC3 allows CHAD to accomplish three things: to build additional moderate-income housing units, to train future workforce and to improve neighborhoods.

As CHAD and DC3 wrap up their 2021 project, they are already making plans for next year’s house, which will be a single-family home at 811 First Ave., Wainscott said.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with the community college to provide affordable workforce housing,” she said. “We will pour concrete this summer and be ready for the DC3 students again in August.”

In addition to the come-and-go open house, Black Hills Energy also sponsored a free hamburger feed onsite from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

By Lance Ziesch
DC3 Media Specialist