Words are not enough

Foundation working to provide affordable housing

We have all seen the region’s housing crisis touch our lives in many ways. But who really bears the brunt? It’s the workforce that we rely on, the ones that keep everything running smoothly: law enforcement, medical support staff, bank tellers, municipal employees, bus drivers, food service professionals, and more. These people are the backbone of our cities and towns, but they are less and less able to actually live in them because of the soaring cost of housing.

So what are we going to do about it? Slow our economic growth? Jettison our world-class amenities? Discourage talented people from moving here? Or do we just table the issue yet again?

Or do we listen to what the data is telling us, roll up our sleeves, and take quick and decisive action to help the people who serve our community find housing they can afford? Excellerate Foundation chooses action. Excellerate Foundation is a public charity that has invested $125 million over the last 25 years to improve the lives of all those in Northwest Arkansas. We are a 100% nonprofit organization with a unique mix of experience across the philanthropy, business, and social services sectors. And we have been nationally recognized for our ability to bring people together to address the region’s most pressing issues.

Bentonville Schools — one of our valued partners in education — has repeatedly spoken of the difficulty of attracting new staff to its ever-growing district, which boasts a median home price of $450,000. Several recent would-be hires have turned down their positions because the available housing was beyond their reach.

This is why the Bentonville School Board voted to donate land that the district has been using for other purposes to Excellerate Foundation, so that we can help house the district’s current and future workforce. Recognizing the taxpayers’ investment, Excellerate will give the current value of the land to Bentonville Schools at the end of the program. Not a cent of the city or state’s education budget will be used.

In return, Excellerate Foundation will bring approximately $25 million in state, federal and philanthropic dollars — including $5 million in funding from Excellerate — to assist with both the housing and educational needs of the district through a development that will be wholly managed by our subsidiary, Excellerate Housing, LLC.

Sixty multifamily units will house school employees and other working families in the district. These units will leverage a federal program that has been in place since 1986, its longevity due to its history of success in making housing affordable for the nation’s workforce. The program has lasted 40 years across party lines, legislators and administrations. It proves that helping hardworking families have a safe, affordable place to live is an American value on which we can all agree.

Forty single-family cottages will be exclusively for school employees as affordable rentals, where they can stay a maximum of five years. The cottages will also debut a “shared equity” program, which will emulate all the benefits of home ownership while removing many of the downsides. When the participants leave, they will go with their principal and much of the interest they paid into the program, which will be used toward the purchase of a permanent home. All the while, the cottages will remain affordable for the next tenant, ensuring that as many school employee families as possible can be housed.

Anchoring the development is a community learning center that will provide beneficial educational services — such as afterschool tutoring, financial counseling and home ownership preparation — not only to the development’s residents, but also to the surrounding neighborhoods. This will create intentional engagement opportunities, helping develop relationships between neighbors to make a tighter-knit community. It is this learning center that brings all of the other pieces together to create an “affordable community,” rather than just a collection of housing.

Our goal is to replicate this model in the future, but, to be clear, this is no silver bullet for the housing crisis. This is just one step on the path to a solution. But we must act now for the firefighters, the bus drivers, the retail workers, and, yes, the educators who do so much for us all and just need a little help themselves.

We must all become the proverbial “man in the arena” and “strive to do the deeds,” not remain merely spectators in the stands. Because if we choose not to act, then all that is left is words. And words are not enough.