SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Hundreds of people gathered Friday afternoon to support 7hills and to gain insight into the programs and services the center provides. Community partners and business leaders learned about housing initiatives and what needs to be done across Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley.
"The council is interested in developing more workforce housing as a core point of our strategy. As we continue to grow we're going to need more affordability options," said Nelson Peacock, the president, and CEO of the NWA Council.
On Tuesday night, the Fayetteville city council voted no to an ARPA-founded housing ordinance, and as a result, the city is still looking for alternatives. The NWA Council says by the year 2045 our region is anticipated to hit over a million people.
"We've got to figure out a way to grow smart and strategically, so we don't continue to have urban sprawl," Peacock said.
The CEO of 7Hills Mike Williams added that "What we have to start doing as a region is to start thinking strategically while keeping an eye on the future thinking about homelessness. What is homelessness going to look like in 2045, and what does the solution need to look like that's going to help us set up for success when that time comes around?"
Williams says this event was necessary to bring awareness to the stigmas surrounding homelessness.
"Because there's a lot of myth and a lot of misunderstanding about what homelessness is in Northwest Arkansas and about what causes it. There's a lot of myth that it is a choice, but we heard today that Patrick did not get to choose his childhood,” Williams explained.
Patrick Clifton is a successful housed recipient of 7hills services and was featured as a guest speaker for the event. He showed the community that the "Hope" program works miracles.
"It gave me some hope in stuff when they got me housed. They said 'You're too old for this Patrick, you've been doing this for eight years, and you're getting older,' but they got me in a place," Clifton said.
Clifton said, "I had to put in the work, and I had to do the hard work ... I'm learning more about myself, and I'm learning to love myself."
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