The Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association -- (SAHBA) -- is helping local high school students learn a craft while constructing low-cost housing units for the nearby community.

The concept came about a few years ago when Roy Gerdes, a teacher in Tucson's Santa Rita High School, saw vocational programs being discontinued and wondered if it would be possible for students to build Habitat for Humanity houses on campus.

HFH raises funds and obtains materials for the program without the help of any federal monies, freeing the schools from using educational dollars for the program, according to SAHBA's Elaine Hughes.

HFH -- publicized extensively by former President Jimmy Carter -- is a non-profit homebuilding organization based in Americus, GA that erects houses with volunteer labor and contributions from manufacturers, corporations, and local home builders. Prospective buyers must help in the building process and also participate in counseling sessions. The homes are sold at cost and financed with no-interest mortgages.

Five Tucson high schools currently participate in the vocational program, and SAHBA hopes it can become a model for other HFH chapters and school districts throughout the country. Given the shortage of funds for vocational learning programs, as well as a shortage of individuals entering the homebuilding field, the program could pay dividends both to students and to buyers in need of affordable homes.

Following in Gerdes' footsteps, vocational teacher Chuck Gallagher at Santa Rita High School has extended the program to four other area high schools as well as a nearby state prison in Tucson.

Having taught vocational education for the past 17 years, he is heartened by the response to the program by both the students and community alike.

"There are many more students who would like to participate than we can accommodate. I have to limit myself to a 16:1 student to teacher ratio, since these are not just experimental units -- they are real houses, and there is no room for error when they must be built to satisfy local codes and pass inspections." He also says that the students participating in the program include both college-bound and vocational types, all seeing practical reasons to learn the construction trades.

"Even though there are as many as five or more HFH houses being built here locally, there is a limited amount of funds that can be provided by the non-profit," says Gallagher. "Big local sponsors tend to want their own employees to get out there and build the houses, so sometimes it's not always possible for the kids to be involved."

"The students really get into it," said SAHBA's Hughes. "It's exciting for them to build the house, see it moved to the waiting slab (foundation) in its semi-complete state, and then have their peers drive by the finished homes."

One alumnus of the High School Building/HFH program, Brandon Yager, finished his vocational training more than two years ago and is now employed as an electrical field technician for Old Pueblo Electric in Tucson. He came to work for the firm after having met another company member, Steve Meyers, during his experience in the high school program.

"He became my mentor," said Yager. Yager admits that it's doubtful that he would have considered himself a 'born leader' if it weren't for Meyer's encouragement and praise along the way. Now with several pay raises under his belt, Yager sees a promising future ahead of him. In addition to working full time, he studies electrical engineering three times a week at a local community college.

Quickly embraced by the Home Builders Institute, the educational arm of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), plans are underway to promote the idea as a template for use nationwide.

"The players for a program like this exist in every large city in the U.S.," said Hughes. "We also hope that local community colleges will participate and offer special credits to the students, who several years ago never dreamed that they could enroll in this type of program."

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