Collaboration vital

City leaders, UA must unite to deal with housing

Northwest Arkansas’ shortage of affordable housing is on the minds of a lot of city leaders in the region. So much work goes into making or keeping a place attractive to current and future residents, it’s disheartening to hear from people who fall in love with a town but can’t, in the final analysis, make the money work.

In Rogers, the city is selling land to the Northwest Arkansas Council Foundation so that Groundwork Northwest Arkansas can try its hand at 3D “printing” of houses using a robotic device. In Bentonville, the school district developed an innovative plan to create affordable housing to help attract teaching talent, but was thwarted by a shortsighted 4-3 City Council vote that reflected a lack of creativity. At the University of Arkansas, students and their professors are exploring “tiny house” construction as a possible way to alleviate burdensome costs. In Springdale, Groundwork’s focus is on construction of a 77-unit apartment complex that will include 30 rent-stabilized units. In Fayetteville, the City Council is weighing an incentive-focused offering of city-designed house plans, free of charge, to developers looking to build in two specific areas of town. The idea is to help shrink construction costs so that the homes prices stay within reach of lowerto middle-income residents.

These are but a few of the recent developments as Northwest Arkansas attempts to avoid a pitfall experienced by other popular communities. When home prices are out of reach for too many people — from teachers to police officers to firefighters to restaurant servers — it can counteract many of the positive aspects of the region.

In a recent work session, City Council members recognized one unique aspect Fayetteville faces: student housing. To a degree, Fayetteville’s housing woes are exacerbated by the University of Arkansas’ strong and growing enrollment. The university adds about 1,000 new students every year but doesn’t add new housing, City Council member Teresa Turk said. The UA’s dearth of on-campus options means students eat up much of the housing units developed in the city annually, Turk said.

City Council members said there should be more collaboration between the city and the University of Arkansas, which indeed seems like a no-brainer. The growth at the university is undoubtedly welcome, but it should dictate a coordinated response to a serious community need not just affecting the students, but all the residents of Fayetteville.

We’ve heard a lot through the years about how Northwest Arkansas has thrived because the region’s leaders have pulled together to address infrastructure needs, like Interstate 49, the trails and the region’s airport.

The steep costs of housing may not seem as sexy as those projects, but failure to embrace creative. solutions will leave Northwest Arkansas out in the cold.