FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — An affordable housing development officially broke ground in Fayetteville this week after years in the planning stages.
Cobblestone Farms Community will be built on 15 acres in west Fayetteville off Weddington. The 89 units can house between 300 to 400 people. They will be well below market value with rent being between $325 and $625 dollars a month.
“It’s a big need throughout Northwest Arkansas and everyone sees it…very hard to find rental property for folks. By the time you have interest rates rising and everything, it’s really putting a lot of pressure on the citizens,” said Jeff Webster, president and CEO of the Excellerate Foundation.
This project is a collaboration of multiple nonprofits including the Excellerate Foundation and New Heights Church. Co-directional leader, Jim Hall says they are excited to finally have broken ground on this project.
“Homeless numbers keep growing and we just have a crisis of affordable housing. We want this project to be a model for how faith-based organizations like New Heights Church or any other church can collaborate with secular nonprofits and governmental entities and lending institutions to bless communities across the nation,” said Jim Hall.
New Heights Church owns the 45 acres of land where the housing will be built. On the land also sits Cobblestone Farms which is a hunger relief organization that grows fruits, vegetables and raises livestock to help feed those in need. Executive director, Kelton Hays says people living at the community will have direct access to the farm and all of their programs and the food they produce.
“In the same way that other community members throughout Northwest Arkansas would, the advantage they have is proximity. They are going to be able to walk out their front door and if they are coming to a volunteer opportunity, a training opportunity, a teach, a meal, it’s 60 yards,” said Hays.
They hope the housing will be complete and ready for move-in by the end of 2023.
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