housing

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin greets Big Country Chateau tenants (L-R) Clara Edmonston, Delores McDaniel and Jay Richard at a Jan. 26, 2023, tenants' rally in front of Little Rock City Hall. (Photo by Sonny Albarado)

Owners of troubled Little Rock apartments held in contempt of court, fined $1,000 per day

BY: - September 20, 2023

A troubled Little Rock apartment complex, its holding company and its out-of-state parent company have each been fined $1,000 a day since Aug. 14 and will continue to be until they comply with a Pulaski County Circuit Court order from February, according to a Tuesday order from a judge holding them in contempt of court. […]

Arkansas landlords filed nearly 700 eviction notices per month in 2022, study shows

BY: - September 6, 2023

Arkansas landlords filed an average of 696 civil eviction complaints per month in 2022, according to a study of “all publicly available [COVID-19] pandemic-related eviction cases” in state court records by the advocacy group Arkansas Community Institute. The group released a report on the study Wednesday and called for large-scale changes to state renting laws. […]

Little Rock housing authority will ask for meeting with HUD after report shows management troubles

BY: - August 23, 2023

The governing body of Little Rock’s federally-funded public housing authority hopes to meet with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials to discuss what the federal department called “performance deficiencies” in a letter to the local agency earlier this month. HUD issued a “troubled” designation to the Housing Authority of the City of Little […]

City of Little Rock faces delays in relocating tenants at troubled apartment complex

BY: - July 12, 2023

Tenants at a Little Rock apartment complex with a history of code violations and legal trouble expressed frustration Tuesday that city officials have not yet helped them relocate after saying last month that they would do so. City officials are still engaging local housing organizations about relocation resources before inviting tenants into the conversation, Deputy […]

Broken air conditioning frustrates North Little Rock renters during record-setting heat wave

BY: - July 6, 2023

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Barbara Heard, 66, has been placing ice packs on her neck and head in order to cope with Arkansas’ record heat wave while her apartment does not have air conditioning, she said. Heard has lived at the Cedar Gardens apartment complex since 2016. She and other tenants said Thursday that their […]

Troubled Little Rock apartment complex will close; city plans to help residents relocate

BY: - June 1, 2023

A troubled Little Rock apartment complex will be closed and its few remaining tenants relocated, current management’s legal counsel said Thursday. City code enforcement has been pursuing a case against Big Country Chateau since 2019 in Little Rock District Court. Multiple inspections have revealed code violations at the apartment complex on Colonel Glenn Road, including […]

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin greets Big Country Chateau tenants (L-R) Clara Edmonston, Delores McDaniel and Jay Richard at a Jan. 26, 2023, tenants' rally in front of Little Rock City Hall. (Photo by Sonny Albarado)

Foreclosure order delays completion of Little Rock court case against troubled housing complex

BY: - May 18, 2023

A Little Rock apartment complex with a history of code violations is facing a foreclosure order in addition to city and state legal action, Deputy City Attorney Alan Jones said Thursday in city environmental court. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Freddie Mac, owns Big Country Chateau’s mortgage. It filed a foreclosure […]

Members of a clean-up crew remove belongings that have been left behind by occupants as the National Park Service clears the homeless encampment at McPherson Square on Feb. 15, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said that when cities force unhoused people to move out of encampments, they’re putting their health at risk. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

High mortality rate of homeless highlighted in new report

BY: - April 9, 2023

Barb Anderson, director of Haven House in Jeffersonville, Indiana, works with homeless people to place them into housing. It’s a job that has shown her firsthand the severe health issues facing unhoused people in southern Indiana, where many people live in tents in the woods and under bridges.  She is currently working with an older […]

Rep. Aaron Pilkington, Rep. Kendon Underwood

Public housing work requirement clears Arkansas Legislature

BY: - February 23, 2023

The Arkansas Legislature sent a proposed law that would require able-bodied adults to work or volunteer part-time to receive federal housing assistance to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ desk for approval Thursday. The House voted along party lines to pass the amended House Bill 1196, with 80 Republicans voting yes, 15 Democrats voting no, and two […]

Bruno Showers, senior policy analyst for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, speaks against House Bill 1196 before the Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committee on Feb. 16, 2023. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)

Proposed work requirement for federal housing assistance advances in Arkansas Senate

BY: - February 16, 2023

The full Arkansas Senate next week will consider a proposed law that would require able-bodied adults to work or volunteer part-time to receive federal housing assistance. House Bill 1196 passed the Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committee with no dissent Thursday. Able-bodied adults between the ages 19 and 64 would have to work or […]

Renters of troubled Little Rock house will be required to appear in city court

BY: - February 10, 2023

The three tenants of a house on West 24th Street in Little Rock will be subpoenaed by their landlord in an ongoing dispute over living conditions, the landlord’s attorney told a judge in Little Rock environmental court on Thursday. City code inspectors cited landlord Imran Bohra and his company, Entropy Systems Inc., in June and […]

Rep. Aaron Pilkington, Rep. Kendon Underwood

Arkansas House approves work requirement for public housing recipients

BY: - February 6, 2023

A proposed Arkansas law that would require able-bodied adults to work or volunteer part-time to receive federal housing assistance will head to the Senate after passing the House in a party-line vote Monday. Adults between the ages 19 and 64, except people with disabilities and participants in drug and alcohol treatment programs, would have to […]