2024

Sculpting the Housing Landscape in Arkansas: Current Conditions, Future Opportunities

 

 

Sculpting the Housing

Landscape in Arkansas:

Current Conditions,

Future Opportunities

A Symposium of ACHANGE Members

and Housing Advocates

 

Thursday, June 20, 2024 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Friday, June 21, 2024 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

U of A Cooperative Extension Service State Office

2301 S University Ave, Little Rock, AR 72204

This housing policy symposium is designed to bring together parties interested in expanding the supply and accessibility of affordable housing in the state. We’ll identify the current state of housing legislation in the state, then direct our attention to tools that can be used to increase housing options in the state. This is an educational event to spur conversation, partnership and engagement within communities across our state. It is also meant to highlight opportunities to create and enhance existing housing legislation in the state.

• Be there to discuss the urgent issues that limit the supply of housing to Arkansans with moderate incomes.
• Hear experts like our luncheon speaker, Jacqueline Waggoner, President of Enterprise Community Partners Solutions Division.
• Learn about new technologies and strategies for providing housing, like modular housing and energy independence.
• Find out what’s happening with the Arkansas Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
• Develop stronger connections with your colleagues and peers between education sessions and after hours.

Friday Lunch Speaker Jacqueline Waggoner, President, Solutions Division, Enterprise Community Partners

As president of Enterprise Community Partners’ Solutions Division, Jacqueline manages a team of more than 300, leading the company’s programmatic, policy and advisory work in alignment with its strategic priorities: increasing housing supply, advancing racial equity and building upward mobility and resilience. From working on the ground with local partners in hundreds of communities nationwide, to advocating for affordable housing policy at the highest levels of government, Jacqueline maximizes Enterprise’s impact across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

Sessions

In Housing We Trust

Speaker: Billy Cerullo

Billy Cerullo is a housing advocacy organizer at the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). In this role, Billy helps grow the Coalition’s network of advocates and support efforts to strategically engage federal policymakers on key policy priorities. Billy has been working as an organizer for almost a decade and has organized winning campaigns to change education and healthcare policies. Before joining NLIHC, he organized multiple unionization drives as an organizer for the Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA).

 

 

About the Session:

According to Community Change, Housing trust funds are distinct funds established by city, county, or state governments that receive ongoing dedicated public funding sources to support the preservation and production of affordable housing and increase opportunities for families and individuals to access decent, affordable homes.  Housing trust funds systemically shift affordable housing funding from annual budget allocations to the commitment of dedicated public revenue.  During this session you will learn about the National Housing Trust Fund,  successful local jurisdictions based HTF, along with receiving an update regarding the Arkansas Housing Trust Fund.

 

It’s All in the Design 

Speaker: Audra Butler, Communities Unlimited

About the Session

You may have heard the term “modular housing” before. You may have even seen promotions in the state saying that a company offers modular homes.  But what does that mean? By definition modular housing are houses built off-site, usually in an indoor quality -controlled setting. Modular homes are completed in sections called modules, according to specific plans. These sections are then transported to the site where they are assembled by builders and installed into the foundations. Modular and manufactured housing are not the same and the terms are not interchangeable.  During this session, learn the differences between a variety of types of housing and the potential modular housing has to not only provide quality affordable housing but also create employment and support community growth.

 

Additional Speakers:

          Codney Washington, We Center We Build

Codney Washington is the founder and Director of WE Center WE Build (formerly the construction company Washington Enterprises). WE Center We Build’s goal is revitalize inner-city areas by constructing affordable homes,built by participants of their vocational training programs. These homes are typically constructed offsite, using the modular home concept, to offer better supervision, training opportunities, and to mitigate cost, throughout Pine Bluff and throughout the region where affordable housing is needed. We Center We Build offers NCCER courses and certifications specializing in framing, plumbing, electrical work, HVAC, and excavation. The organization primarily works with at-risk youth in the community and provides vocational training within state youth detention centers all done under the umbrella of WE Center.

 

          Chris Nicely, ManufacturedHomes.com

Chris is President of ManufacturedHomes.com & ModularHomes.com and recently contributed to three published studies by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, comparing the cost of site-built housing to manufactured housing, and overcoming obstacles in siting factory-built housing. Chris  has 30 years’ experience in factory-built housing and management. With a proven track record, he has collaborated with industry leaders, non-profits, developers, and municipalities to leverage factory-built housing for positive community development in cities such as San Bernardino, CA; Phoenix, AZ; LaGrange, TX; Danville, VA; Jackson, MS; and Detroit, MI.

Additional speaker:            Benje Feehan, Bcworkshop

 

Solar for All

Speaker: Tyler Archie, Hope Enterprise  – Solar for All

Tyler is a VP on HOPE’s Corporate Strategy team and led the Climate and Energy Initiative that resulted in HOPE’s $156 million “Solar for All” awards as a state-level applicant in Arkansas and Mississippi. Tyler will be discussing Arkansas’ Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to advance affordable and resilient solar energy access for low-income and disadvantaged households across Arkansas, utilizing a multi-pronged approach. Prior to joining HOPE, Tyler practiced law and served as a SME and Director of Compliance for a New Orleans-based software company.

 

About the Session

The Inflation Reduction Act created a first-of-its-kind, national-scale program: the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund—a $27 billion investment to mobilize financing and private capital to address the climate crisis, ensure our country’s economic competitiveness, and promote energy independence while delivering lower energy costs and economic revitalization to communities that have historically been left behind. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will be designed to achieve the following program objectives: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants. Deliver the benefits of greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects to American communities, particularly low-income and disadvantaged communities. Mobilize financing and private capital to stimulate additional deployment of greenhouse gas and air pollution reducing projects. Arkansas has been awarded $93 million. Learn how these funds are going to be used to advance affordable and resilient solar energy access for low-income and disadvantaged households across Arkansas, utilizing a multi-pronged approach.

 

2024 Annual Membership Meeting

 March 14, 2024

10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

U of A Cooperative Extension Service State Office
2301 S University Ave, Little Rock, AR 72204

Advancing Housing Policy in Arkansas: A Strategic Conversation

June 20, 2023

Join ACHANGE as we continue our conversation regarding the state of affordable housing in Arkansas. During this brief two-hour event, we will explore ideas and solutions for addressing ways to improve affordable housing options across our state. Your input is crucial to determine our next steps!
To prepare for our meeting we are asking those who register to list their three top concerns about affordable housing in Arkansas. You can list them when you register.
You may attend the event either in person at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce or online in a Zoom meeting. The meeting is free, but you must register no later than Tuesday, June 20 to attend.

2023 State of Housing in Arkansas

You are invited to attend this in person or online convening to discuss the current condition of affordable housing in Arkansas. The meeting includes lunch, several informative speakers, an interactive session, and a special award presentation. You won’t want to miss it! The fee for the event is $25 for nonmembers. You will be invoiced when you register.

Featured Speakers

Candace Valenzuela, HUD Regional Administrator, Southwest Region

In April 2022, Candace Valenzuela was appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration to serve as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Regional Administrator in the Southwest Region.  As regional administrator, Candace Valenzuela is based in Fort Worth and oversees HUD operations, eight field offices and federal housing assistance throughout the five-state region, which covers Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.  She is a mother, an educator, and a former school board trustee. After becoming the first in her family to graduate college, Valenzuela has since devoted her life to fighting for opportunities for others. She first ran for her local school board to improve Texas schools, becoming the first Latina and first Black woman to serve on the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school board. 

Doug Ryan, Vice President, Policy & Applied Research, Prosperity Now

Doug has spent his career in the affordable housing, community development, and human services fields, with more than twenty years’ experience working in federal and local programs. Prior to joining Prosperity Now, Doug served as Assistant Director of Federal Programs at the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, Maryland, a multifaceted housing provider, developer, and lender. Doug has extensive experience connecting research, data, and program evaluation to policy development.

Gabby Ross, Housing Advocacy Organizer, NLIHC

Gabby Ross is a housing advocacy organizer. Prior to joining NLIHC, Gabby was a housing stability specialist for a property management company in Washington DC, where she helped DC residents apply for emergency rental assistance. Previously, Gabby worked as a housing specialist at N Street Village for the Patricia Handy Place for Women shelter in Washington DC. 

Shamus Roller, Executive Director, National Housing Law Project

Shamus Roller has been the Executive Director of NHLP since November of 2016.  Before joining NHLP Shamus served as the Executive Director of Housing California, a statewide advocacy organization working on issues of housing and homelessness.  During his time at Housing California the organization’s advocacy led to over five billion dollars in new funding for affordable development and a host of new programs and policies. 

Special guest, Arkansas Senator Joyce Elliot, Founder of Get Loud Arkansas!

Housing Conversations: Economics, Equity, and Access for Affordable Housing

Thursday, July 22, 2021 – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

ACHANGE and the Arkansas Bankers Association invite you to attend a special webinar focusing on affordable housing in Arkansas today.

About the Webinar

The Arkansas Coalition of Housing and Neighborhood Growth for Empowerment (ACHANGE) is hosting a virtual session about the current Arkansas economic realities affecting affordable housing on Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 10 a.m. Discussion will center on economic opportunities and challenges in developing affordable housing in the current environment.

Marshall Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of The Housing Fund, is the scheduled keynote speaker. Respondent panels will be led by Faith Weekly, Community Development Advisor for Neighborhoods and Housing with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and Gloria Reynolds, Community Affairs Specialist for Arkansas & Tennessee with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Department of Depositor and Consumer Protection, Dallas Region.

ACHANGE launched its topical convenings Housing Conversations in 2018 to address emerging issues related to affordable housing. During 2021 the theme is Housing Conversations: Economics, Equity, and Access, focusing on the current economic environment for developing, renovating, and acquiring affordable housing. The July 22, 2021 session addresses the impact the pandemic is having on affordable housing; its funding and current cost environment, including historic low interest rates; the current seller’s market, availability of affordable purchase options, and housing production cost increases. How do these factors affect the industry and the market for affordable single family and multifamily homes?

The event is made possible through a partnership with the Arkansas Bankers Association.

Speakers

Keynote

Marshall E. Crawford, Jr., MPA

President & Chief Executive Officer, The Housing Fund

Previously, he served as President of Housing and Multifamily Development for Community Ventures in Lexington, KY. Also, he spent 13 years at NeighborWorks America in various roles in the Southern Region located in Atlanta, GA.

Before joining NeighborWorks, Marshall was a safety and soundness bank examiner for the Office of Thrift Supervision. His banking career started in a management training program for Third National Bank (eventually, SunTrust Bank) in Nashville, Tennessee. He later relocated to Atlanta, GA and worked as a mortgage loan officer with several banks. In 1992, he was honorable discharged from the United States Army after serving five years while being stationed in Germany and at Fort Knox, KY.

After completing his military service at Fort Knox, he attended Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, where he received a degree in finance. He completed a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In 2016, Marshall completed an Executive Leadership Certification at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

Panel Discussion 1

Faith Weekly, Facilitator

Community Development Advisor – Neighborhoods and Housing

Institute for Economic Equity

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis – Louisville Branch

Faith Weekly is a Community Development Advisor – Neighborhoods and Housing and a member of the Community Based Policy & Analysis team in the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.  In this role Ms. Weekly works to advance comprehensive development efforts to revitalize distressed neighborhoods, stabilize low-and moderate- income communities and foster partnerships and connections that help neighborhoods thrive.  While she is based in Louisville, her service area includes the entire 8^th District – Arkansas and parts of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi.  She serves on the board of directors of the following organizations: L-HOME, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, New Directions Housing Corp. and R.E.B.O.U.N.D. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve, Ms. Weekly was a CRA mortgage loan officer at Fifth Third Bank in Evansville, IN.  She received her B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University.

Mark Loya

Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas

Mark is currently a Senior Affordable Housing Analyst for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (Bank) responsible for a portfolio of projects located throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.  Mark assists with the development and implementation of the Bank’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP). He is responsible for providing AHP technical assistance to member institutions, non-profit organizations and community/government leaders. He assists with the funding of the department’s grant programs and maintaining the day-to-day operations and database system as it impacts the program. He also participates in evaluating applications for funding once a year analyzing the proposed projects, in part, for feasibility and a demonstration of need. Previously, Mark was the Development Manager for a non-profit in Dallas, Texas, where he was responsible primarily for the organization’s single-family and multi-family projects and with the City of Dallas Housing Department as a Contract Compliance Administrator.  He holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Science degree from the University of North Texas and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Tiffany Hudson

Executive Director

Partner for Better Housing:

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Tiffany relocated to NW Arkansas in late 2019. Tiffany holds a BA in English from Georgia Southern University and a Masters in Policy from American University. Tiffany has twenty years of residential real estate experience as a new construction builder and land developer.  Prior to moving to Arkansas, Tiffany worked for the Atlanta Housing Authority on several large-scale innovative, mixed-income properties. In 2006, Tiffany built a nationally recognized, 40-bed homeless shelter in her hometown of Athens, Georgia and served on the board of the shelter for more than ten years. Tiffany was named by The Northwest Arkansas Business Journal as one of ten honorees for their 2021 Women in Business honorees program.

Wanda Merritt

Field Office Director

Little Rock Field Office, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development

Wanda C. Merritt has been the Field Office Director in the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Little Rock Office since January 2014. Previously, she served in the same capacity in the HUD Office in Lubbock, Texas. As the Field Office Director, she serves as the principal management official and HUD’s liaison to elected representatives, state and local officials, Congressional representatives, and stakeholders. She is responsible for overseeing the delivery of HUD programs and services throughout the 75-county Arkansas jurisdiction.

With more than 30 years of experience in community & economic development and housing, Merritt joined HUD’s Lubbock Field Office as a Community Builder in September 1998. Previously, she was the Community Development Administrator for the City of Abilene, Texas managing HUD’s Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  Merritt is a Federal Internal Coach and coaches federal and non-federal employees to meet their professional and personal goals. She completed the Executive Programs in Public Management, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and earned an MBA and Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Business Management from Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas.

Panel Discussion 2

Gloria Reynolds, Facilitator

Community Affairs Specialist for Arkansas & Tennessee

FDIC Department of Depositor & Consumer Protection – Dallas Region

As Community Affairs Specialist for the FDIC’s Dallas Region, Gloria Reynolds works with banks and communities to strengthen partnerships that benefit low- and moderate-income consumers and small businesses.  Effective January 2019, she is assigned to Arkansas and Tennessee. For the previous six years, Ms. Reynolds was assigned to Oklahoma where she founded and coordinated the Alliance for Economic Inclusion for Northeastern Oklahoma. Working in the Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection, she interacts with community-based organizations, businesses, bankers and the public to bring greater understanding of and compliance with the CRA and the fair lending laws, and to promote financial literacy.

Ms. Reynolds banking career spanned twenty-eight years during which she directed securities and consumer compliance and coordinated the bank’s Community Reinvestment Act program at the local, state and national level. In her final role as a banker, Ms. Reynolds was Director of Strategic National Alliances and Programs with responsibility for creating and strengthening relationships with large regional and national nonprofit partners. Ms. Reynolds earned a B.A. with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the Texas State Bar having earned her J.D. from Southern Methodist University School of Law.

Darryl Swinton

Executive Director, Housing, Weatherization, and Economic Development

Better Community Development, Inc.

Darryl D. Swinton, Sr. serves as the Executive Director of Housing, Weatherization & Economic Development for Better Community Development Inc. In this capacity, Mr. Swinton is responsible of all aspects of affordable housing, weatherization and economic development for the Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO) certification status and neighborhood reinvestment initiatives.

He also serves as President/Owner of Diamond Legacy Group, LLC. a licensed General Contractor and Realtor. Mr. Swinton also provides bid inspection on residential and commercial properties as well as new construction and rehabilitation. In this capacity, Swinton has researched, purchased, constructed and developed over 200 units of income-producing properties both Single Family and Multi-Family Housing units in hard to serve communities.

Currently he serves on the Board of Directors of Southern Bancorp Bank. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas. He also served as Chairperson of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas Advisory Council, Vice-Chair of Housing Arkansas, former Chairperson of Community Housing Advisory Board for the City of Little Rock and a host of other Boards and Commission.

Mr. Swinton holds a MBA in finance from Webster University and a BBA in business finance from the University of Central Arkansas. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. and resides in Little Rock with his wife Karen and two kids Darryl Jr. and Taylor.

Michael Carroll

Lending Director

Rural LISC

Michael Carroll joined Rural LISC in September 2018. He leads national lending programs for LISC’s 145 rural local partners and other community development organizations across 49 states.  LISC offers a full suite of lending products for affordable housing, community facilities and economic development.  He has over 40 years of experience in the lending and community development.  He has held senior positions at Bank of America, Fannie Mae, Rural Community Assistance Corporation, California Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency. He is on the board of directors of NeighborWorks Capital, California Coalition for Rural Housing and the National Rural Housing Coalition.  He is a founding member of the California Coalition for Community Investment, a network of Community Development Financial Institutions.

Wendy Von Kanel

President, Central Region

Southern Bancorp

As Southern Bancorp’s Central Region President based in Helena-West Helena, Ark., Wendy Von Kanel oversees the community development bank’s operations across 12 markets and 17 branches in Arkansas and Mississippi. A Phillips County native, Von Kanel joined Southern Bancorp in 1998 as a mortgage loan processor, rising to Market President in 2018 and Regional President in 2019.

2020

2020 marked a year of departure from the typical ACHANGE meeting format, as the organization faced a year dominated by the COVID pandemic. In spite of this, found a way to provide a training opportunity for members via webinar.

July 9 — ACHANGE partnered with the Arkansas Bankers Association to provide Housing Conversations: 2020 Vision for Affordable Housing. This webinar featured nationally known author and speaker Dr. Andre Perry of the Brookings Institution! Dr. Perry is also a scholar-in-residence at American University, and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. His research focuses on race and structural inequality, education, and economic inclusion. Perry’s recent scholarship at Brookings has analyzed Black-majority cities and institutions in America, focusing on valuable assets worthy of increased investment. He is the author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.  

Dr. Perry’s remarks were followed by a panel discussion facilitated by Faith Weekly, Community Development Advisor for Neighborhoods and Housing with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Eighth District. The current landscape in the state was discussed by three panelists who work with Arkansans on housing-related issues: Kendell Lewellen, Gerald Turner, and Leon Jones. Kendell Lewellen is Managing Attorney with the Center for Arkansas Legal Services, managing the Center’s Fort Smith and Russellville offices as well as performing housing advocacy across forty-four Arkansas counties. Her work currently focuses on helping Arkansans maintain stable housing during COVID-19. Gerald Turner is the CEO of the HEAL Collective and has extensive experience in the areas of community, economic and real estate development, having managed and developed over 2,000 units of housing totaling $650 million in value for various public, private and non-profit corporations.  He has focused extensively on real estate development initiatives to spur the creation and retention of jobs and reconnecting neighborhoods to educational, commercial, workplace and health services. Leon Jones, the Executive Director of the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission, serves on several boards and commissions including the Arkansas Housing Trust Fund. He is a past Commissioner of the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission and the Fayetteville Housing Authority.

2019

March 29 — ACHANGE held its annual lunch meeting which included elections of Officers and Board members. The program included Stephanie Nichols of the Housing Assistance Center, Sara Oliver of Housing Arkansas, and Roby Brock on the Arkansas Legislature.

July 30 — ACHANGE provided two webinars for participants interested in learning about the housing development process, each produced by Incremental Development Associates. One webinar was directed at individuals and nonprofits who wish to create housing developments; the other was for members of the affordable housing ecosystem: banks, mortgage companies, local government staff and elected officials, who want to encourage the creation of housing developments on a small (incremental) scale in their communities.

2018

February 23 — ACHANGE held its first convening of the year. The Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) introduced new programs and changes to existing programs.

June 22 — In honor of National Homeownership Month, ACHANGE presented Housing in Arkansas: Markets, Affordability, and Policy. Speakers included Victoria Bourret, Housing Advocacy Organizer with NLIHC, Dr. Michael Pakko, State Economic Forecaster of AEDI, Doug Ryan, Director of Affordable Home Ownership at Prosperity Now, and a panel of legislators.

September 14 — ACHANGE partnered with the Arkansas Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to bring representatives of HUD’s Denver Homeownership Center to Arkansas to address becoming a HUD certified housing counseling agency and how to maintain certification.

ACHANGE became a member of the National Low Income Housing Coalition and participates in their conversations concerning affordable rental housing.