BENTONVILLE -- Increasing property values and rental rates are limiting affordable housing options for low-income residents, community members voiced in a forum Tuesday.
The gathering was held to discuss the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. The report is required to be done every five years for states, counties, cities and other agencies receiving federal money from the Community Development Block Grant program, said James Gilleylen, president of J-Quad Planning Group. This is the third analysis report J-Quad has done for the city.
Block Grants
The Community Development Block Grant program is a flexible program providing communities with resources to address a range of unique community development needs. It began in 1974 and is one of the longest, continuously run programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website
Bentonville has received Community Development Block Grants since 2004. The city received $160,000 from the program this year, the lowest amount it has received, said Danielle Shasteen, city senior planner. Shasteen oversees the block grant program for the city.
A public meeting to get feedback from the community is part of the report process. About 15 community members attended Tuesday. Their backgrounds ranged from affordable housing management to banking to nonprofit groups helping those in need. Planning commissioners Joe Haynie and Greg Matteri and Octavio Sanchez, Ward 4 alderman, also attended.
Several said increasing prices of houses and apartments was one challenge to affordable housing in the city.
The opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2011 was a catalyst for change downtown, Shasteen said.
"Historically, that's where all of our affordable housing was, was in downtown," she said. "That is no longer the case. Instead of the affordable housing moving somewhere else in Bentonville, it has moved to neighboring cities."
"We're almost pricing out people who are on very limited incomes," said Pam Willis, who works with St. Stephen Benevolent Society of St. Stephen Catholic Church. The society helps individuals and families in financial need find housing.
Bentonville has residents who struggle to make ends meet each month, but often they aren't seen as current development reflects a time of prosperity, Willis said.
"I love living in a vibrant, growing community," she said. "I just want it to be a community for anyone who wants to live here."
Casey Kleinhenz, property manager with Community Development Corporation of Bentonville, said the biggest challenge he sees the city facing is structural. It's a small city that's growing quickly, he said.
"Normally, as housing stock ages it becomes more affordable," he said. "There's no old property aging out." Instead, developers are tearing down structures and building new ones, he said.
The report will include a community profile, analysis that looks at fair housing law along with city policies and its compliance to them, an analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, a fair housing index and remedial recommendations.
"It's not a fair housing plan. It's just an analysis of where we are today to help increase our housing choices in the future," Shasteen said.
The report should be completed in 90 days, according to Gilleylen.
NW News on 08/26/2015