Pulaski County officials broke ground Tuesday on a new project that aims to provide permanent housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
Providence Park is inspired by the Community First Village of Austin, Texas, and when complete, will include 400 tiny homes with full support services to improve both resident health and quality of life.
Errin Stanger, founder and CEO of Providence Park, has been working with the unhoused community of central Arkansas for several years. She says she was inspired to search for more permanent solutions to the problem.
“That led me to look at the nation and also do an international study, and so I spent a few years trying to find something that I thought might be wonderful to bring to Arkansas, and that's when I found Community First in Texas," said Stanger. "I wanted to do a better job taking care of our chronically homeless individuals, so I just started the research, and here we are today.”
The community will have full wrap-around services, starting with a medical, mental, and dental health facility.
"We'll also have a huge community garden. We will have a fabrication lab-type building so all of our neighbors can make and create inside. They are kind of modeled after the [Arkansas Regional] Innovation Hub, which is my previous place of employment. I used to be the director there." Stanger added, "It's important to bring arts into their lives as well, so really, full wrap-around services to get them back on their feet and feeling good again”
Providence Park will be located behind the Iron Horse Church on Chicot Road in southwest Little Rock. Stanger says they are partnering with Rock Region Metro to plan a dedicated bus stop for the village.
One in every three households in Arkansas can be considered ALICE, defined by nonprofit alliance United Way as asset limited, income constrained, and employed.
Stanger says she hopes to open the doors in the first quarter of 2025.
