a lot of pressure to compete with professionals, but the students did a great job.” So why is a wildly popular CTE program that delivers a premium product year after year in trouble? “The biggest challenge is finding available land to build on. The district has been trying for years but they haven’t been able to purchase any lots from local developers,” says Higginbotham. The problem appeared to have been solved when a Forest Grove School District-owned plot of land was deemed too small to build an elementary school on. Unfortunately, the land was bought with bond money, so use rules mean the plot cannot transfer to the Viking House. “We’re now down to two lots, one for this year and one for our 50th anniversary next year. I don’t know what will happen after that,” Higginbotham laments. School officials seem unsure as well. “The district is actively searching for future properties to continue the Viking House program,” wrote director of finance and operations Ilean Clute in an emailed statement. “The district has hired a local real estate agent who is actively contacting local developers and landowners about the possibility of purchasing or dividing lots.” T he recent passage of Senate Bill 1537 may help those developers and landowners feel better about parting with some of their stash. While the new law is designed to boost the production of affordable and middle-income housing stock —which the Viking House is definitely not—provisions for Urban Growth Boundary land swaps may make a sale to a school district pencil out … eventually. “It’s a voluntary process. You would have to find the right landowner and the right city. And even then, it’s going to take time,” says Jodi Hack, CEO of the Oregon Home Builders Association. While the future of Viking House remains uncertain, Senate Bill 1537, coupled with Senate Bill 1530 and House Bill 4134, will pump a total of $376 million into boosting housing production, funding infrastructure and providing support to renters. All good news for a state that is short an estimated 140,000 homes right now and needs more than 440,000 new homes in the next two decades to keep up with future demand, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle. That is also good news for the job prospects of newly graduated construction professionals currently in CTE programs. Students in Eugene School District 4J’s new Future Build CTE program are already getting started building much-needed affordable housing. This program is similar to Viking House and the Columbia Basin Annika Gutzmann, a Forest Grove High School junior, at work in the Viking House Viking House program instructor Chris Higginbotham 38
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