SPRINGDALE, Ark. — As Northwest Arkansas continues to grow, affordable housing can be hard to come by. But a new Springdale development could be the next step toward a solution.
Leaders with Groundwork, formerly known as the Workforce Housing Center, say the downtown Springdale development will be a model for the region. This was announced at a Northwest Arkansas Council Meeting on July 18.
The 77 unit mixed-income apartment development will have 30 units dedicated for households who make less than the area median income.
“We've heard horror stories of it taking literally years to find a home to purchase. Months to find even an apartment for rent. Our rental market is historically tight, vacancy is basically zero,” said Duke McLarty, executive director of Groundwork.
The organization focused on housing accessibility in Northwest Arkansas and is investing in this development called Big Emma located at the corner of Emma Avenue and Park Street.
McLarty says workforce housing is for people who make between 50% and 100% of the area median income, which comes out to between $46,000 and $92,000 a year for a family of four. These are people like teachers, first responders, and recent college grads.
“The reality is that as our populations continue to grow, a supply and demand equation is starting to take foot where there's more demand than there is supply. And we've got to look for ways to catalyze new home development,” he said.
Northwest Arkansas Council President and CEO Nelson Peacock said as prices keep going up, housing is becoming less attainable, and the council wants to reverse that. He said that starts with stimulating more development and bringing on as much housing as possible.
“We need to do it in places where people want to live in—around the downtown and around where people work— not really focused on building more subdivisions way out in the country. We need to have it where people are, where people can live, where they serve,” said Nelson Peacock.
This development is being supported by a more than $6 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation. McLarty hopes to break ground in the coming weeks and have people move in by the end of 2024 or early 2025.
“These 30 units are not going to solve the workforce housing challenges that are being felt in the region. So we must replicate this. But you've got to start somewhere. And we're really excited about this one,” McLarty said.
Another big topic of Tuesday's meeting was the number of open jobs in our area. NWA Council says there are 10,000 open jobs right now from tech to trades that need to be filled.
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