MANISTIQUE, Mich. (WZMQ) – New affordable houses are coming to Manistique in the next few years. It is thanks in large part to students from the Delta Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (ISD).
“There’s obviously a shortage of homes in the U.P.,” said ISD CTE Director Trent Bellingar. “One of our great learning experiences for our kids is going to be to build a house.”
On Tuesday, 10th through 12th grade Career and Technical Education students studying building trades celebrated the groundbreaking of the first of three affordable homes on Otter Street.
“We’re intending to have the first home here and then the next home right there and then the next home further down,” Bellingar said, motioning to the two additional lots. “Over the next six years, we should have three finished homes on these three lots. It will be a really cool opportunity for them to have the entire process from the hole to handing over the keys.”
Grover Real Estate Owner David Muxlow helped to locate the ideal site for the project.
“We searched far and wide throughout the community,” Muxlow said. “We then approached the owner, Lu Bryant. Her family home was right here, and she had never wanted to sell the property. When she found out about this opportunity to see the building trades kids build a home, she said ‘I want them to have the property’ and made us a really favorable offer.”
InvestUP’s Build U.P. program provided $200,000 for the ISD to purchase the property from Bryant.
“I was really thrilled to be involved as part of what I like to do with my time as a volunteer,” said Muxlow. “I, of course, love to see the kids have an opportunity to learn from a great team of leaders that they’ve assembled here to work together on the project.”
The project aligns with Schoolcraft County’s resiliency plan—led by Schoolcraft Tourism & Commerce. Particularly—and its workforce development attraction and affordable housing initiatives.
“It definitely took the whole community, people from different parts, putting this together,” said Schoolcraft Tourism & Commerce Executive Director Victoria George. “We are just thrilled to have it happen. It’s solving the issue of needing more homes and those homes that are affordable for the working class.”
For students, it’s an opportunity to get first-hand experience on a job site.
“We’ve been learning a lot about how to conduct ourselves in the workforce and, obviously, how to do the things that you need to do when you’re in the workforce—drills, chop saws, all that,” said Grace, an ISD sophomore.
Bellingar’s goal is to have students on the property every day.
“In inclement weather and in good weather so they can see what the trade looks like in real life,” he said. “In real life, if it’s raining, you still go to work. What might take a building crew a week might take us three weeks, but we’re hoping that as we go, we can get better at the process as well.”
Students say they are learning skills they can take with them after high school and making a positive contribution to their community.
“It’s really exciting,” said Grace. “I think it’ll really help our community and some of our homeless population and be a really good opportunity to teach some of our students about careers they might want to go into and stuff like that.”
After ISD students build and pour the footings of the house this spring, a contractor will install the poured wall crawlspace in the summer. When students return to school in August, they will begin building the flooring and enclose the house before snow falls. The ISD aims to sell the home in the fall of 2026.