Over the last several weeks, a group of 11 individuals in the Annapolis Valley have been working to accomplish skills and qualifications while building structures for residents who lost their homes during the Long Lake Wildfire in 2025.
It’s safe to say it’s been an emotional but comforting time in the heart of West Dalhousie. Foundations for homes have started to break ground and new buildings are floating to their forever locations!
Across Nova Scotia, the Housing Construction Council provides crucial opportunities for participants to complete their schooling while also helping those who are looking to get their foot in the door of the housing sector.
Currently, the Housing Construction Council is partnered with multiple organizations in the Lawrencetown area of Annapolis County. They are providing students with a variety of opportunities and life experiences to learn and meet the requirements in order to graduate from the program and have the best chance to succeed in trades.
In this particular program, they are working with the Lawrencetown Education Centre, Department of Labour Skills and Immigration, and the Annapolis Regional Centre for Education, who are all coming together to run a project called the Modular Housing Construction Fundamentals program.
“So far, the program has built three two-bedroom homes with 11 participants taking part. It’s really life-changing for all those involved.” Shared Leta Lowthers, Project Coordinator with the Housing Construction Council.
The unskilled participants in the program learn important skills while getting paid. On top of this incentive, they receive 350 hours towards carpentry apprenticeship hours as they work under a certified Red Seal.
Those in the group also receive up to 3 co-op credits if they haven’t completed their high school diploma, as well as a Microcredential accredited by Cape Breton University.
Five additional training certificates are also provided, including Confined Spaces, End Frame (Scaffold) Training, Fall Arrest, First Aid, WHMIS and Occupational Health and Safety. This provides participants with the necessary training to get their feet into the workforce.
Participants are also provided with boots, personal protective equipment and a full toolkit, to use during the program and eventually keep when entering the industry. This equipment is proudly sponsored in part by Milwaukee and Home Depot.
With there being such a need for affordable housing and workers in the industry, this program seems so appropriate. It’s moving initiative to provide positive opportunities for individuals while also gifting those who desperately need a place to live, is beyond heartwarming.
Jamie Borden, participant in the program and also a resident of West Dalhousie, tragically lost his home in the Wildfires in 2025.
“This program was a good filler. I lost my workshop, tools and the home I was working on. For me specifically, I learned a lot about the rough carpentry, building things from scratch, framing and how to lay things out, which was something I didn’t know a lot of. This is going to be really handy because I have a few outbuildings I need to rebuild this summer as well.” Borden shared.
For Jamie, this program hits close to home. After moving to the area from Ontario in 2021, his family was still working to establish the property. Borden was able to learn new skills and work on the home that was transported from Lawrencetown and landed on his property on Wednesday in West Dalhousie.
“It means we’re housed. We got lucky to be in a spare house since we were evacuated over the winter, but we’re really looking forward to getting back to our own property. We do a lot of gardening and a lot of our personal activities revolved around the land we were building.” Jamie Borden stated.
Borden emphasized the importance of this program, recalling many participants who struggled to read a tape measure when they started, and now they have valuable experience that could put them in the trades to build homes. This program also does it in a way that supports participants with financial barriers as it is paid.
Now that three homes are built, participants are already preparing the area for the next three buildings that are also set to go to West Dalhousie thanks to a partnership with Rotary Clubs of the Annapolis Valley. Thirteen more unskilled or under-skilled individuals from the community are working in the next program, which will provide three different families with a new home in West Dalhousie by September.
Last year, the Housing Construction Council piloted a Tiny Home Construction Fundamentals (THCF) program partnered with the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education.
That program was created to provide skill development opportunities for participants facing employment barriers, informed directly by the needs of the housing construction industry and piloted right here in the Valley.
After the successful THCF pilot, the Housing Construction Council planned to pilot a new, combined curriculum to teach the entire spectrum of homebuilding — Modular Housing Construction Fundamentals (MHCF). Coincidentally, this plan was in place when the wildfires struck West Dalhousie. Jessica Ward, Operations and Project Development Manager with the Housing Construction Council, and Jamie Peppard, Principal at Lawrencetown Educational Centre met with numerous West Dalhousie stakeholders and different levels of government and community members who all wanted to help.
“We were already going to do the MHCF skilled development program here in Lawrencetown, because of the housing need and the community partnerships, we were able to build 3 full homes in about 24 weeks.” Shared Jessica Ward.
Ward shared how they combined two curriculums, so that the designs of the homes were bigger to meet the needs of families.
“While we hadn’t had a plan for the homes built through MHCF when we started, thanks to many great partnerships, these homes that our participants have built alongside qualified team leads are now being gifted to families in West Dalhousie.” Proudly shared, Jessica Ward.
All across Nova Scotia, the Housing Construction Council has trained 80 people and built 13 houses so far this year. Just last week, 19 participants graduated from both the MHCF and THCFF programs in Lawrencetown and are now transitioning to work.
Once these six homes are completed and set to land on the properties in West Dalhousie, 24 participants within the program that have barriers with employment have been trained, receiving safety credentials and industry credentials following weeks of hard work.
On top of this partnership with community organizations and providing life opportunities for community members, six families will now have a home to live in.
To learn more about the program you can visit their website attached below ⤵️
https://housingconstruction.ca
Adrian J.
