Little Rock board mulls land buy for homeless housing

Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors will consider adopting a resolution to purchase two parcels that together make up roughly 3.19 acres at 3405 and 3511 W. Roosevelt Road.

LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock officials are forging ahead with a plan to buy land in order to build a homeless shelter and a micro-home village on West Roosevelt Road.

The proposed acquisition of a different property last year for the same purpose would have seen the city pay a municipal employee an inflated price for his land. That proposed purchase was ultimately abandoned by Little Rock City Manager Bruce Moore last September.

Moore’s decision came after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that two city-commissioned appraisals had put the value of the employee’s property well below the figure Little Rock was prepared to pay.

At a meeting on Tuesday, members of the Little Rock Board of Directors will consider adopting a resolution to purchase two parcels that together make up roughly 3.19 acres at 3405 and 3511 W. Roosevelt Road.

The offering price is $200,000, according to a memo from the city manager’s office, included with meeting materials. The memo says the land was appraised at $210,000.

The site is down the road from the Little Rock Compassion Center, a homeless shelter located at 3618 W. Roosevelt Road and just northwest of the Pulaski County jail complex.

The properties’ owner is Dale McGinnis. McGinnis acquired the two parcels for $10 each in July 2022 from the McGinnis Living Trust, property records show.

The 2.39-acre property at 3405 W. Roosevelt Road was last appraised at $104,005, according to the Pulaski County assessor’s office. The county assessor appraised the 0.80-acre property at 3511 W. Roosevelt Road at $34,905.

The city’s plans for the shelter and micro-home village remain largely the same, albeit at a new site.

Little Rock Director of Housing and Neighborhood Programs Kevin Howard on Feb. 14 told city board members that the phase-one plans for the village include 80 noncongregated housing units and a community center with a kitchen, offices and a 20-bed emergency shelter — 10 beds for men and 10 for women.

Funding is expected to be drawn from the city’s allocation of direct aid from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Asked about Pulaski County’s plan to develop a similar micro-home community, Howard indicated that the county was planning to provide permanent housing, whereas the city’s village would provide shelter for up to three months.

“Sometimes it may take a little bit longer based on the situation of the person that’s unsheltered. It may take six months,” Howard told board members.

Residents will be able to access services as case managers help them find permanent housing, he said.

With a mix of one-, twoand four-bedroom units, it is possible that the micro-home village would be able to house a minimum of 160 people at a time, Howard said. He put the time frame for completion at six to eight months.

One of the noncongregated units can be built in a single day, Howard said.

Also before the city board on Tuesday is a resolution to authorize the city manager to enter into an agreement with Pulaski County for Little Rock to provide sewer service to the site of the county’s future homeless village. The measure was previously deferred at a Feb. 7 meeting.

Modeled after the “Community First! Village” near Austin, Texas, the county’s proposal calls for 400 microcottages once the site is fully developed. County officials expect to fund the initiative using $5 million of the American Rescue Plan Act money.

The 150-acre property is located at 6900 Green Road, just outside Little Rock’s city limits and roughly nine miles south of the site on West Roosevelt Road where Little Rock officials want to build their micro-home village.

The county’s homeless village is expected to encompass 60 out of the 150 acres.