Garland County Habitat for Humanity has built 150 homes for local families in need since 1995 and is now in "desperate" need of more land donations to continue its mission of giving a "hand up" to impoverished families as they help them build wealth for a better future.
The nonprofit currently has only one property left that has not been built on, and 257 families on their waiting list.
"We'll get a building permit for that in the next month or two, and that will be all we've got," Habitat Executive Director Cindy Wagstaff said.
Tax-deductible land donations or sales at extremely low prices are welcome and can be made by calling Habitat at 501-623-5600.
"Our dream property is vacant, does not have any structures on it, and it has utilities that are run to it," Wagstaff said. "That is our dream. We do know that there are times that doesn't happen, so there are times that we can look at something that there may be a small structure that does need to be demolished."
Land needs to be about 50 feet wide and between 75 and 100 feet deep.
"What we're wanting to do, and what we think is most beneficial to Hot Springs, is doing what we call in-field development," Wagstaff said. "We go into neighborhoods that are existing, but they kind of need help being brought back up. So when we go in we tend to help revitalize the neighborhood, and we're building new structures and that tends to incentivize the rest of the neighborhood, and almost every time we go into a neighborhood and start building, suddenly -- "
"They're starting to fix their home up as well," Courtney Post, Habitat's public relations coordinator, said.
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"These are not shacks that are being built, these are homes for people to build their families in," Anne Quinn, Habitat's director of operations, said.
"We've been fortunate," Wagstaff said, "in that we have been the beneficiary in a lot of land donations, but we started seeing that slow down about a year ago, so it's become more and more difficult to find property.
"We now have a little bit of grant money that we were able to get, so we can purchase property, and that would be helpful, but we've noticed that the cost of land has skyrocketed with the COVID happening, and it's just exacerbated the housing shortage, so land has become more difficult to get."
Wagstaff said there are four to five houses under construction by Habitat at any given time.
"As our property has dwindled, and as COVID had shut everything down, we were limited on how many people we could have on the construction site, so we've been building at a little bit slower pace," she said. "So that has kind of helped a little because we haven't had any additional properties to go to, but right now we have two that are just about to finish, we are framing one, and we have a foundation going on one other one. And then we have that one last property that will be our last one."
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has seen its housing need increase.
"This is a homeownership program, so these are families that generally cannot get a traditional mortgage because trying to come up with the 20% down and all of that, it is very difficult, so what this does is it gives them an opportunity to actually own a home, and it provides stability," Wagstaff said. "And for our workforce in Garland County, we're primarily tourism-driven, so we have a lot of restaurant workers, we have a lot of medical staff, a lot of tourism-based industries, even from --"
"Even from business owners, police officers, firefighters, these are also people," Post said. "The housing market has gotten so high that a lot of people in our workforce, they can't afford a home right now, and this is where we come in to help them have a decent home to raise their family in."
"And once these people do have a home," Wagstaff said, "there's a whole handful of issues that are now solved, and their lives become more stable, and they're able to be more productive employers, they're able to come to work on time and show up. This is what the housing does, is it gives them a solid foundation, and it truly does help the workforce in our area."
According to the 2018 city analysis, 38% of Hot Springs' population is facing some sort of housing issue, Quinn said.
"Whether it's paying more than they can afford for housing, or living in substandard housing, 38% of Hot Springs is facing this issue, and that's what drives our town is the people who live in it, and the people who work in it," she said.
Obtaining a home through Habitat for Humanity allows for home-ownership and wealth-building within families, Wagstaff said.
"It allows them to build wealth, and that is all wrapped up in that we give them a hand up, not a hand out, so there is a lot of responsibility that falls on these homeowners that they have to be very involved, they have to pave their way," Wagstaff said. "But we come alongside them and help them build this. ... This is truly giving them a lifetime investment, that it starts the generational wealth building."