ST. GEORGE — Seven new homes, constructed with rock slab doorways and contemporary architecture, stand alongside one another on the north side of Hurricane, nestled on top of a hill overlooking the jagged desert. 

Seven families built these houses in the past nine months through the nonprofit organization Self-Help Homes. The families moved into their new, freshly forged community on Friday, after a red ribbon ceremony celebrated their achievement.

Cheyenne Slack, one of the homeowners, was pregnant for half of the building process. In a small speech before the ribbon cutting, Slack described her excitement and pain throughout the planning, building, and finalizing steps of the past nine months.

“I have such pride, standing here, looking at seven complete houses,” she said. “We laughed. We cried. We bled a little bit, and here we are at the end of it. It’s finally done. We can finally enjoy it, and we can finally share it with all of you.”

Slack signed her home’s closing papers on Aug. 19, 2021, setting in stone her family’s agreement to pay a few thousand dollars for the home, primarily to be built by her and her family. Her family arrived on-site to the Hurricane neighborhood in December 2021 and began the training and learning to build the home, alongside the other six families building their own homes on the same block.

Another family of new home builders, Gavin Rahde and his wife, Sarah, had friends in Heber, Utah who built a house through Self-Help Homes about five years ago. When the couple spoke together about obtaining their own home for their growing family, Sarah Rahde brought up the program. Gavin Rahde, a father, middle school science teacher and coach, and now home builder, said he initially doubted his ability to devote 35 hours a week required for constructing a home with Self-Help Homes.

He said he began to accept the idea of applying for the housing program when his wife said she’d received revelation from God that they needed to look into building a home through Self-Help Homes. 

“It was a tough time because I knew it was probably true that we needed to do this, but I hated the idea of it,” he said.

With housing prices increasing throughout Southern Utah, the Rahdes went all-in with Self-Help Homes. For the past nine months, whenever school was in session, Gavin Rahde would teach until 3 p.m., coach tennis until 5:30 p.m., and then work on the house until about 9 p.m. The Rahdes worked on the house all day on Saturdays.

“I think the hardest part was juggling family life and making sure family came first, that our children were provided for, emotionally,” Sarah Rahde said.

The Rahdes said Nathan Barker, Self-Help Homes’ construction supervisor for Southern Utah, taught them how to do the framing, roofing, flooring, shelving, painting, cabinetmaking and landscaping, so they could do it all themselves.

Despite all the sacrifices, Gavin Rahde said, his family was strengthened through the building process.

“Weirdly, I felt like our marriage got better,” he said. “We had to rely a lot on each other. We had to really fight and share hours and share the burden. I was finally forced to ask people to babysit, so my mom’s relationship with my daughter has really developed.”

Hurricane Mayor Nanette Billings attended the event, as she did last year.

“It’s fun to see families that are joining together, working together and making this happen, because that’s what it’s really all about – families,” Billings said. “Your integrity to work together, to show up, it means a lot. There aren’t many people who are finishers. You’ve done something hard, and you’ve finished.”

Billings also said if anyone in the community is interested in Self-Help Homes and building their own home for a few thousand dollars, more homes are planned to be built in Hurricane. She encouraged those interested to reach out to Self-Help Homes to find out about the application process.

Building a home with Self-Help Homes goes beyond constructing a shelter, said Josh Walker, director of construction for Self-Help Homes.

“They build homes, but they also build a neighborhood,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest reward here. You can see that they’re all friends now, with their kids running around together. It’s a community, tight-knit.”

Brad Bishop, executive director of Self-Help Homes, said his favorite part of his job is seeing families finally finish their homes.

“The confidence, the happiness, the hard work that’s gone into the last nine months – it’s way harder than I think people realize until they do it,” he said.

For more information about the program and how to apply, visit the Self-Help Homes website, see the Facebook page, or contact Julie Lindquist at 435-429-1048 or by email.

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