CONCORD, N.H. – The New Hampshire Lottery and the New Hampshire Home Builders Association (NHHBA) formally launched Tiny House New Hampshire, a unique and fun workforce development initiative, during a press conference today at Alvirne High School in Hudson. As part of the new initiative, high school students from Career Technical Center construction programs at four schools across the state will design and build “tiny houses,” which typically span 100- and 400-square-feet. The tiny house movement has gained momentum in recent years as people have sought to downsize their living space, according to thetinylife.com.

“The New Hampshire Lottery is thrilled to partner with the New Hampshire Home Builders Association on this exciting new program that is giving students a chance to learn valuable skills as they design and build tiny houses,” said Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. “The New Hampshire Lottery has generated more than $1.7 billion for education during our 52-year history, and Tiny House New Hampshire is another opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of New Hampshire students.”

In partnering with NHHBA, the New Hampshire Lottery contributed custom trailers for transporting tiny houses. The student-built homes will be displayed during the 50th New Hampshire State Home Show from March 17 to March 19, during which a panel of judges will choose the first-place tiny house. Four of the five homes will be raffled or auctioned during the New Hampshire State Home Show, with proceeds benefiting the participating schools and NHHBA.

“The New Hampshire Home Builders Association and the National Association of Home Builders have had a long history of engaging our future home builders in unique projects,” said Paul Sullivan, president, New Hampshire Home Builders Association. “Building a tiny house gives our students the opportunity to use the construction skills they are taught in the classroom. Our goal is to get them excited about becoming builders in our community and enjoy successful construction careers.”

To help drive awareness and interest in this new program, the New Hampshire Lottery is also launching a new scratch ticket game, “Tiny House Big Money,” and the top second-chance prize will be one of the student-built tiny houses. Tiny House Big Money, which features a $10,000 grand prize, will launch in January.

“Building the tiny house will be a great experience for the whole class,” said Jamie Sherman, a building trades student at Alvirne High School. “Some of us want to go into this field after graduation and others want to have a little bit of background information on construction and carpentry for the future they are going to pursue. Making this tiny house as a class will be great for us to learn team work and what it is like to be in the real world on a job site.”

Nearly 100 students from the following New Hampshire high schools are taking part in Tiny House New Hampshire and will build a total of five tiny houses:

“Tiny House New Hampshire is an authentic learning opportunity for students from the four Career Technical Centers, providing new curriculum in our school in electrical, plumbing, heating and building finishes in addition to typical building processes,” said Steve Beals, principal at Alvirne High School. “Our students and staff are excited to be part of the growing national popularity of tiny houses and the skills learned will help students better understand the growing needs of skilled homebuilders. Skills in homebuilding will provide a lifetime asset to all students, whether continuing in the trade in the future or simply hoping to fulfill the American dream of homeownership.  We are fortunate to be part of Tiny House New Hampshire and appreciate the efforts of the New Hampshire Lottery and the New Hampshire Homebuilders Association.”

NHHBA expects it to take about 550 hours for students to complete the homes, with a budget of $15,000 to $20,000 for each house. NHHBA is sourcing all materials for the program and is seeking financial and material donations. NHHBA members are serving as mentors to participating students.

"Getting involved with the New Hampshire Home Builders Association, the Lakes Region Chapter of the Builders' Association, along with resources made available to us by the New Hampshire Lottery, has been an exceptional opportunity for students to receive in-depth, hands-on experiences in many of the construction phases that is challenging for our technical programs to achieve,” said Matthew Towle, building construction instructor at J. Oliva Huot Technical Center in Laconia. “The project has created an immense amount of energy for our students and my programming. I look forward to the connections that our industry professionals will be making with young tradespeople."

In addition to the New Hampshire Lottery, other partner organizations include Dead River Company, Harvey Building Products, Selectwood, and Builders Installed Products.

To view video footage from today’s press conference, please click here: