Kansas City business hopes to create affordable homes out of earthen blocks [Video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City business is working to make new housing more affordable and artful.

Civic Saint plans to build homes out of compressed earth blocks (CEBs) to hopefully increase homeownership for the Black community.

Godfrey Riddle, the president and founder of Civic Saint, said CEBs are a mix of 90% sand, clay and soil and 10% lime or cement water. He told KSHB 41 News that they are twice as strong as a common concrete unit, cheap to produce and sustainable. They are fireproof and bulletproof, among other benefits.

Riddle said he founded Civic Saint in 2020 out of his own experience. He said growing up in Kansas City, his parents struggled with homeownership.

“So I really saw it as an opportunity that have a rising tide raise all boats. If we can get more people into homeownership, especially folks from the Black community,” Riddle said.

VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Claire Bradshaw

…