Habitat for Humanity home makes its way to Ottertail
News | Published on September 2, 2025 at 2:25pm GMT+0000 | Author: Tucker Henderson
0Home to be located near Arvilla Drive
By Tucker Henderson
Reporter
A plan to increase the City of Ottertail’s housing units has been in the works since the fall of 2024 and is now coming to fruition nearly a year later. Though only an increase of one unit for this year, city staff are eager to see the home installed next Tuesday.
“We’ve been working on this for some time,” said Clerk-Treasurer, Amanda Thorson. “It will be just off of Arvilla Drive in the Lake View Heights subdivision. North of Donald Lake ands south of the city water tower.
“We’re excited about it,” she continued. “It’s a nice, modest home. It’s growth for us, which we’re always looking for, so we’re excited about it. There will still be some construction that needs to be done, but that’s all part of the build. Once construction is complete, it will be purchased.”
The project, which is spearheaded by Habitat for Humanity of Fergus Falls, is a collaboration between three communities with Underwood High School being the builder of the home. The lot on Arvilla Drive was purchased last fall by Habitat for Humanity as a part of Otter Tail County’s Big Build program, which ceased at the end of the year.
The lot was part of Ottertail city’s dollar lot program, which means Habitat for Humanity are not responsible for paying the land use permits, the installation of a curb stop and a water accessory charge for its installation. As a continuation of the county’s Big Build program, Ottertail city partners with the county to continue to provide tax abatements for residential homes in the future.
“Stan Carignan reached out to me and said, ‘hey, we have a project going, Underwood is going to build a house for us and we need a place for it.’ He said he always loved driving through the city and he was curious if we had anything available, so I mentioned that we had this lot off of Arvilla. So he took a look at the lot and from there, we moved forward with a purchase agreement. We saw detailed specifications of what was being built and the Council approved the house.”
Once the house is moved on to the lot at 101 Arvilla Drive and final construction is finished, the home will be sold to a family making between 40 and 80 percent average median income (AMI). Otter Tail County’s average medium (household) income sits at $100,000, which means that families who make between $40,000-80,000 a year will qualify.
“I think the house is going to be 28×48 with a 24×28 garage attached,” said Thorson. “It’s a nice home, we’re definitely excited about it. We want to build up our community and build up our single-family homes. Sometimes the availability for a new family to try and build a home these days with the rate of inflation and building materials, this is an option for them.
“We want to get youn, new families in our communities,” she continued. “We’re excited about it and we’re excited to work with Habitat for Humanity on any future home that they’re looking to do.”
Stan Carignan, Executive Director at Habitat for Humanity in Fergus Falls, said that the project is an important part of promoting trades in Otter Tail County, especially the building trades which are becoming more sought after as fewer high school graduates pursue the line of work.
“We wanted to partner with high schools because a lot of schools in general have dropped the trades and that’s bad for society,” said Carignan. “We’re part of the Lake Region Builder’s Association which is part of Builders Association Minnesota and the National Association of Home Builders, so we have an interest in promoting the trades, promoting building.
“There’s been a housing crisis for 15 years where it’s not profitable for anybody to build a starter home anymore,” he continued. “With the cost of materials, the land, and the construction workers to build it, it costs more to build it than it will appraise for. So nobody will build small homes anymore.”
One factor in this decade-and-a-half housing crisis comes from the fact that college degrees have been encouraged as the only option for students after high school for the past two or three generations. With the rate of degree-seekers rising, the rate of high school students pursuing the trades has conversely diminished. This leaves the construction industry with a shortage of skilled workers and therefore, a decrease in homes built each year.
“Underwood High School has had a construction program at their high school for a number of years,” said Carignan. “During COVID, they stopped building and they went to sheds for four or five years, but I talked to the instructor there, Chad Gronner, if we could do this.”
Carignan explained that around three out of 11 high schools in Otter Tail County still offer a construction trade course. High schools in New York Mills, Battle Lake, and Underwood continue to build homes each year and between Battle Lake and Underwood, Habitat for Humanity has been able to put those homes to use. Last year, students at Battle Lake High School built a home which then was moved to Dalton, Minn. as a project of Habitat for Humanity.
“It’s multi-faceted why we do this,” said Carignan. “We also offer a trade scholarship in Battle Lake, Underwood, and Fergus Falls for $500 if a young person goes into the trades. We haven’t been able to give it away in Battle Lake for two years because nobody is going into the trades. In the past two years, we have stretched the definition of trades, because we have to literally find ways to give away this scholarship. Kids are just not going into the trades.”
Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to build affordable housing throughout the region and by partnering with local high schools, is able to hopefully promote future growth in the industry as well as giving purpose to high school construction courses that remain in the area.
“We’re trying to do things on a couple different levels here,” said Carignan. “So, Battle Lake built one for us two years ago and they’re going to build one for us this year. We think right now, we’ll put that in Ottertail city also.”
With the partnerships between these communities coming together to create affordable housing, all parties are looking forward to their continued purpose and civic engagement.