This project will inspire both Pine Ridge residents as well as visitors to build affordable housing using local materials and will directly serve approximately 400-500 individuals per year. It will also immediately solve a housing problem for one local family who will serve as a garden caretaker, sharing their knowledge of local wild foods and herbs, horsemanship, gardening and general grounds keeping duties. This will directly help us further our goal to serve more Pine Ridge residents.
This project will serve as a demonstration of low-cost, sustainable housing that residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation can implement on their land to reduce overcrowding and improve living conditions making them less reliant on government housing. Further, equipped with the knowledge of how their house was built, new homeowners will be able to make their own repairs reducing the amount of damage sustained to a home from problems such as leaking pipes, doors, windows and roofs.
Our focus is on affordable and sustainable housing. This means all of our designs incorporate passive solar gain to minimize winter heating bills as well as operational windows that create air flow and adequate insulation to reduce or eliminate cooling costs in summer.
Long term, our projects will not only serve as a demonstration for what is possible but also works to connect Pine Ridge residents with resources such as building materials, funding and volunteer support so that long term relationships are created which will help guarantee success for families just starting out. Eventually, the skills learned and relationships built will be passed down through generations for the benefit of both Pine Ridge residents as well as the visitors that come here.
