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FAQs

• Tell me about Groundwork.

  Incubated at the Northwest Arkansas Council with support from the Walton Family Foundation Groundwork’s mission is to provide strategic regional leadership, expertise and resources to strengthen communities by expanding housing for working families near employment, commercial and cultural centers in Northwest Arkansas.

• What would be considered workforce housing?

  Workforce housing is defined as homes for those who are making anywhere between $46,000 to $92,000 dollars a year, or equivalent to 50 to 100% of the area median income.

  These are our teachers, plumbers, firefighters, police, nurses, medical assistants and members of the service industry. Many have come here to search for better opportunities, and others have been members of our community since childhood.

• Why is housing an issue in our region?

  Over the past decade, the region skyrocketed into national rankings, recognized for its job growth and high standards of living. That success creates new challenges that threaten to undermine the region’s affordable quality of life.

  The Northwest Arkansas region has added about 250,000 new residents since the year 2000 . The rate of population growth has outpaced development, driving up demand, price and making housing—much less affordable housing—difficult to find. From 2010 to 2016, only 1 house was built for every 1.5 new households.

  Because of this, the average cost of homes in our region has increased significantly over the past four years. A recent report by Skyline found that home prices continued to skyrocket in the first half of 2022 — up nearly 27% to an average of $385,821, compared with the same period in 2021. This means the median price for a single-family home in Northwest Arkansas grew faster than any other place in the U.S.[GU1]

  In addition, there is not enough production of “entry level” homes. These include smaller single-family homes, townhouses, duplexes and small apartment buildings. In 2020, the market added just 65,000 entry-level homes across the United States, those smaller than 1,400 square feet, compared with roughly 400,000 a year in the late 1970s,

• Why is there a lack of the production?

  The lack of production is a national problem that is being exasperated in regions like ours that have experienced rapid growth. For developers, the increased price of land and soaring construction costs are barriers to making housing more affordable. Couple this with the increased demand, and higher interest rates, developers are unable to meet the needs of current and future residents.

• Why is housing an important issue for Northwest Arkansas?

  Housing prices across Northwest Arkansas are rising due to the booming population, elevated construction costs, high financing costs and underproduction of homes.

  Teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other essential workers face increasing obstacles finding affordable housing within the central corridor and near the region’s top amenities. The barriers often prevent people from living in and contributing to the richness of these communities.

  If the issue goes unaddressed, housing costs will continue to rise and much of our workforce, seniors, and recent graduates will find it difficult to remain in our region. This has a direct impact on our quality of life, our business’s ability to recruit, and our everyday life. For example, if our districts are unable to recruit teachers because of the high cost of living, that will result in larger class sizes. That directly impact our children and their experience in the classroom.

• Can we stop the growth?

  Growth is inevitable in a changing world. By actively participating in the planning process, we can shape our community's future according to our values and aspirations, rather than leaving it to chance.

  Responsible growth can benefit us in numerous ways:

  • Economic Opportunities: Responsible growth can bring new businesses and industries to our region, creating job opportunities and increasing the standard of living for many residents.
  • Infrastructure Improvements: With growth, we have the chance to improve our infrastructure, including roads, public transportation, and utilities.
  • Cultural Enrichment: A growing community often attracts a diverse group of people, contributing to the enrichment of our cultural landscape.
  • Environmental Stewardship: Responsible growth allows us to plan for sustainable development.
  • Education and Healthcare: As our community grows, we can attract better educational institutions and healthcare facilities.
  • Tax Revenue: Increased economic activity generates higher tax revenue for local government. These funds can be reinvested in essential services, such as education, public safety, and parks, benefiting all residents.
  • Resilience and Adaptability: Growing regions tend to be more resilient in the face of economic downturns. Diversified industries and a larger tax base provide stability, helping us weather economic challenges more effectively.
  • Preserving Our Identity: Responsible growth doesn't mean sacrificing our identity. We can develop strategies and zoning regulations that preserve our unique character and historic landmarks while still accommodating growth.
• How will Groundwork address the growing accessible housing concerns?

  Through education and advocacy, Groundwork elevates the importance of housing affordability in Northwest Arkansas and supports policies, programs and initiatives that build public will and increase well-designed workforce housing options in mixed-income neighborhoods. This includes advocating for model housing policies that remove barriers and offering incentives for workforce housing development.

  Groundwork identifies creative, nimble, and flexible financing and land options to support housing affordability. A planned housing fund will provide financial tools for nonprofits and private developers to support the development of more affordable units.

• What do we need to as a region to preserve and foment the development of attainable housing?

  There is no one size fits all solution to housing cost increase and no region across the nation has found a silver bullet.

  Groundwork is implementing a multipronged approach the issue that includes advocating for:

  • Housing Optionality: To ensure there is room for everyone, we need to make the best use of the space we have. Our region’s development patterns have been solely focused on large scale apartment buildings, and single-family homes on large lots. Building smaller entry level homes such as small single-family homes, town homes, duplexes, triplexes and smaller apartment buildings will allow us to add more homes to the market and make the best use of the land we have. With more homes per square foot, developers can decrease costs and pass those savings on to their buyers and renters.
  • Expanded land-use: More than 20% of Northwest Arkansas is zoned for commercial only, and much of our residential zoning areas only allow for single family zones on large lots. To make the best use of the land we have, we should expand the use of those properties to allow different types housing, and mixed-use communities. Zoning code also needs to allow for smaller lots, less setbacks and reduce parking requirements which not only decrease construction costs but would allow developers to increase the number of units in their developments. These cost savings could then be passed on to the buyers and renters.
  • Leveraging existing infrastructure: The highest cost items for municipalities are building, maintaining, and expanding our roads, water ways, storm managements systems, electrical infrastructure etc. Throughout the major thorough ways in our region, we have corridors of strip malls and commercial properties. Instead of continuing to expand west and east into our smaller communities, these areas could be retrofitted into mixed-use developments that include housing, and use the existing infrastructure in place.
  • Leading with design: Build spaces and places that people want to be a part of and preserve our municipalities unique identities. Help people understand that density doesn’t equal not pleasing to the eye. Use design to create vibrant walkable communities maximize space and leverage that for affordability.
  • Nodes of population: By creating pockets of walkable denser communities near our largest employment and entertainment centers throughout the region, we can accommodate the growth and provide our region’s workers with the opportunity to live near where they work. The tiered approach would allow us to build density into these nodes that decreases as you expand out, leaving our farms and natural spaces for those who want to live in a less populated locations. Through this approach, we could create transportation hubs and limit the distance and drive time of our workers. This will make them less reliant on cars, decreasing their cost on transportation, and ultimately affecting their bottom line.
  • Infusing capital into building and preserving attainable housing: What the last few years have shown us is that the market will not correct itself. To effect change, we need direct intervention. This includes direct investment in building below market rate homes, and providing low-cost capital to developers so they can build attainable housing.
• What role does each municipality play?

  Municipalities play an integral role in helping to address the housing attainability issue in our region. Local governments that want to encourage affordable housing development should remove barriers to the development of affordable housing and provide incentives. Examples of these include:

  • Making the project review processes shorter, simpler and more transparent.
  • Offer financial incentives such as tax breaks, grants, or fee waivers to developers who commit to building affordable housing units within the municipality.
  • Create density bonuses that allow developers to build more units in exchange for including a certain percentage of affordable housing in their projects.

  In addition, lack of attainable housing must be viewed in a holistic region-wide manner as policies implemented in one municipality can negatively affect another, or in the worst-case scenario will push development toward the outer areas of our region, causing sprawl, increased traffic and low quality of life.

• What about all these big and high-cost apartment buildings?

  Because one of the contributing factors to the housing cost increase is the underproduction of homes, all units are needed, even those that are higher cost.

• What can I do?

  Everyone in our region plays a part in solving the housing attainability challenge. We need you to help amplify our message.

  How can you help?

  • Be Open-Minded. Northwest Arkansas leaders are exploring best practices, tactics and tools to ease housing affordability challenges. There are creative solutions and types of development that make more efficient use of existing space. Be open-minded about how alternative development will impact quality of life in neighborhoods across NWA.
  • Learn. Take the time to learn about what impacts the housing market and about solutions to address housing challenges. Follow Groundwork’s social media channels, visit the website, and register for the newsletter to ensure that you’re up to speed on what’s happening with NWA housing.
  • Get Excited. While there are certainly challenges associated with addressing housing affordability, there is opportunity, including the opportunity to build a better Northwest Arkansas for your children and grandchildren.
  • Support. When a developer asks a city for a zoning change, take the time to understand why it’s important and show your support for great projects.
  • Volunteer. Volunteer with Groundwork to help spread and share housing solutions.
  • Share. Talk with others about the housing challenges and encourage them to learn about potential solutions. Help them envision and get excited about the possibilities.
• Are we too late to fix this issue?

  Northwest Arkansas is still in time to address housing attainability. With our population projected to almost double by 2045, the majority of homes, businesses and buildings have not yet been built. We are at the right time to shape what our community will look like 10, 15, and 20 years. But we must act now!