ATHENS — Ohio University students are raising the walls — literally — on an affordable new home for a Ross County family, thanks to a partnership between the university, Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio, and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service.
The project, called the Bobcat Build, held its first wall-building day Saturday on the Athens campus, where students and volunteers wrote messages and left artwork on the beams that will form the walls of the home. Full construction begins Oct. 23 at the former patient drop-off circle outside Parks Hall on West Green. The house will be built on campus and then transported to its final site in Ross County, with Habitat for Humanity and OU’s Chillicothe campus finishing the project.
Construction is expected to wrap up by the end of March 2027. Courtney Lefebvre, interim executive director of OU’s Center for Community Impact, said organizers hope the Bobcat Build becomes an annual tradition, building at least one Habitat home a year and expanding the work across OU’s regional campuses.
The effort lands in a region facing a deep housing shortage. A Housing in Athens County 2024 report found that for every 10 households with extremely low incomes, only 3.5 units of available and affordable housing exist. Just four single-family home permits were issued in Athens County in 2023, and none for multi-family homes.
Sophia Coyner, president of OU’s Habitat for Humanity chapter, said giving back to Southeast Ohio is the heart of the project. Improving homes strengthens neighborhoods and brings students and residents together around a shared goal, she said — proof that even one house can make a difference in Appalachia’s housing crisis.