Youth Alliance celebrates completion of YouthBuild home renovation in St. Joseph

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- The St. Joseph Youth Alliance celebrated the completion of one of its YouthBuild home renovations with a blessing Monday.

The House Blessing marks the completion of the latest YouthBuild project, made possible by a partnership between YouthBuild, Housing Improvement Initiative and the City of St. Joseph.

The finished home features exterior and interior improvements made throughout the renovation, including four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The YouthBuilders have worked on the home for 18 months.

Youth Alliance Executive Director Robin Hammond said the house blessing is a testament to the hard work of the young people involved in the YouthBuild program.

"Young people can turn their lives around if they have the opportunity, and they are very talented and have a lot to give back to the community," she said. "This is one way they can do that."

The YouthBuild participants learned a variety of skills during the renovation, including plumbing, electrical work, flooring, framing and cabinet installation.

Hammond said the skills are transferable to other career paths and can also be used in the youth builders' own homes.

"Actually go into a career path in construction, which is ultimately what we hope," she said. "It’s a dying art to some extent, and we all need homes to live in. In order to keep having homes, we got to have people with the skills to be able to build them."

The Housing Improvement Initiative and the City of St. Joseph provided funding for the home’s building materials. Youth Alliance also receives a YouthBuild grant through the U.S. Department of Labor.

"That grant actually pays for the students that are doing the work. They get paid a wage for being apart of the project, so their learning and working at the same time, and it pays for the staff in order to teach them the skills," Hammond said.

According to USA Facts, The homeownership rate in the US was 65.2% in 2025. The home will be an entry level, low income family and will remain that way for the next five years.

"This is a home that would available to that targeted family that probably wouldn't be able to purchase their otherwise," she said.

The Housing Improvement Initiative helps expand homeownership opportunities for first-time buyers and people who have rented for generations. The nonprofit prioritizes marketing homes to those individuals.

Ashley Albers, a board member of the Housing Improvement Initiative, said the nonprofit aims to ensure first-time homebuyers are not placed in homes that could hurt them.

"All of the major things are done. A family can come in they probably have to do some work in the yard," she said. "They might have to do some things that make it feel like it's theirs it's kinda of a blank slate. All of those big things that can cause problems their not going to have to worried about HVAC going out because it's brand new. Those big money items aren't going happen."

The Housing Improvement Initiative is currently working on another house under construction.