Ohio University students are putting up the walls — literally — for a new affordable housing project in southeast Ohio. The “Bobcat Build,” a partnership between Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio, the university’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service and its Center for Community Impact, will deliver a finished home to a Ross County family by spring 2027.
Full construction begins Oct. 23, but volunteers got an early start Saturday raising individual wall sections in Athens. Students and community members signed messages and drew artwork on the beams that will form the home’s walls. Organizers say the project could become a yearly tradition if this pilot effort succeeds.
The effort comes as housing shortages grip the region. A 2024 report from the Athens County Foundation and the Voinovich School found that for every 10 extremely low-income households in Athens County, only 3.5 affordable units are available. Just four single-family home permits were issued in Athens County in 2023, and none for multi-family housing.
Once the house is complete, it will be transported to its final site in Ross County, where Habitat and Ohio University’s Chillicothe campus will finish the work together. “This is a nice opportunity to really engage our regional campuses and the communities that they’re in,” said Courtney Lefebvre, interim executive director of the Center for Community Impact.
