ROGERS, Ark — On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, the Samaritan Community Center in Rogers and Springdale provides free lunch and allows families to take groceries from their food pantry.
Director of Programs Operations Chris Koerner says providing emergency meals for families makes them feel like they're doing something for the community. "We feel like we can help do our part to help people stretch that money that they are working so hard to have."
From the Rogers location alone, Koerner says it serves around 300 meals a day out of the three days they serve people, for the Springdale location, it's over 200 meals.
"We're finding that some of our people have to work up to two and a half weeks out of every month just to pay their rent, or their mortgage, most likely rent, and many people are spending 60 to 70% of their income on housing, which leaves so little money for anything else, and then those decisions get harder and harder to make," Koerner recalled.
Duke McLarty, the executive director of workforce house for the Northwest Arkansas Council, says as the population in the region continues to grow, housing will remain in high demand.
"I think people are making very difficult decisions. It's a sign that folks in our community are struggling. You know, we're very focused on helping them and bringing more housing to the region. Unfortunately, the development cycle takes quite a while," McLarty said. "And if there is a safety net from their food calculation and there's not a safety net with their housing situation, I think you see the choices that they're making— they're choosing to allocate their limited resources to housing, and take advantage and get the food from another place that's available to them."
According to the skyline report in the first half of 2023, the average lease rate per month for a multifamily property unit in Northwest Arkansas increased to $952.17 from $926.55 in the second half of 2022, which is a $25 increase in a six-month time frame. McLarty says more supply is needed in our region to decrease rent.
"Just because there are more options available. It will give the renter more options and a little more leverage to negotiate and hopefully, more options for them to choose from. Now it will take some time for us to boost production to the point that the market starts to correct," McLarty said. "And, you know, we're working through some possible shorter-term solutions and ways that we can help ensure that there's some affordability and projects that are being built In the near term, those details are still being flushed out. But overall, our organization's focus is boosting production and catalyzing more development to prepare for even more that are going to call Northwest Arkansas home over the next 20 years."
The NWA Council is behind a push to bring more affordable housing to the area's workforce. Meanwhile, with the holiday season around the corner, the nonprofit is already preparing to feed as many people as needed.
"We look out and we see where we are now with our numbers and where we're going to be," Koerner said. "We have wonderful partners that provide most of the food for our Thanksgiving meal and for our Christmas meals so we're going to be in communication with them too about what our expectations are for the numbers."
Koerner says Tuesday through Thursday lunch is served from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at both locations in Rogers and Springdale. The market is open to anyone who needs it with only one trip a month per visitor and depending on family size you can an extended amount.
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