Spruce Street Gardens - A pilot for self-sustaining housing for chronically homeless

This spring, a cohort of eight community members are getting hands-on experience in the development of a pocket neighborhood of attainable housing in partnership with a non-profit serving unsheltered residents.

This article from the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette by Grace Hurt describes the pilot:

FAYETTEVILLE -- About 10 Northwest Arkansas professionals interested in creating affordable housing will be given the opportunity to shadow the development of an innovative, self-sustaining housing model.
Incremental Development Alliance, a national nonprofit organization that trains local small developers and municipalities, and Range Co., a local developer, are partnering on the creation of Spruce Street Gardens for New Beginnings.
New Beginnings is a nonprofit that provides housing for unsheltered residents while helping them find permanent housing.
Spruce Street Gardens will be a part of that work, but will serve a purpose even before its completion through a shadowing pilot program led by Incremental Development and Range.
"There's a critical gap in affordable housing development capacity in Northwest Arkansas," said Margaret McClintock of Incremental Development. "This program provides real-world training that doesn't exist elsewhere."
Ten to 12 interested professionals will be selected to spend about one to two hours a week over a 12- to 24-month period in the training program.
McClintock said Incremental Development is seeking people with diverse skill sets, "from finance and legal to marketing, construction, design and project management."
"Our goal is to build a pipeline of developers who can create more affordable housing in Northwest Arkansas using financially sustainable models," she said. "Participants will gain practical knowledge of the complete development process; understanding of how to structure deals that make affordable housing financially viable; professional networks with city leaders, funders and industry partners; documentation and case study materials for their portfolios; and the confidence and skills to pursue similar projects."
Marlee Stark, the city's chief housing officer, said this program with this development offers a unique learning opportunity.
"Affordable housing projects often come with a unique array of requirements, whether that's navigating regulations tied to federal funding or integrating design elements to meet the needs of special populations," Stark said. "Opportunities to shadow work like the New Beginnings project from start to finish help demystify the process and build confidence."
McClintock said the shadowing program has already received an influx of interest from a diverse group of applicants.
"Applications recently opened with a Jan. 16 deadline, so we're still collecting responses, but the immediate interest from such a wide range of backgrounds tells us we've hit on something the community really needs," she said.
Those interested in applying can email training@incrementaldevelopment.org.
BY THE NUMBERS
The program will go beyond just teaching skills, McClintock said.
"We're creating a community of practice around affordable housing," she said. "These cohort members will become advocates and problem solvers for housing challenges across the region."
An additional 1,145 housing units are needed per year to meet the city's projected population growth, according to Fayetteville's 2024 housing assessment. This goal was met and exceeded last year, according to Britin Bostick, the city's long-range planning and special projects manager.
"From the start of 2023 to the end of 2024, more than 2,700 housing units were completed, which is a record," she said in a May interview. "That said, our residents, particularly renters, need housing available at a lower cost than market rates."
Over half of Fayetteville households need housing below the current average rents, according to the assessment.
"Median gross rent increased 78% from 2000-2023, up from a 54% increase from 2000-2022, increasing at a higher rate than median household income," the assessment states.
Residents with lower incomes are especially impacted by these housing challenges, McClintock said.
"Veterans and individuals experiencing chronic homelessness face particularly acute challenges, with insufficient housing options that provide both affordability and supportive services," she said.
The Continuum of Care conducts a census of homeless people living in Northwest Arkansas on the last Friday of January each year, according to Quinn Emett, the group's executive director.
Those counts showed 412 homeless people living in Northwest Arkansas in 2024 and 507 homeless people in 2025 -- an increase of 23%.
Out of those 507, about 132 were first-time homeless and 177 were chronically homeless, according to the count. Chronically homeless is a term to describe people who have been homeless for at least a year, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website.
A PART OF THE SOLUTION
The shadowing program could be a piece of the solution, said Solomon Burchfield, executive director of New Beginnings.
"The more we have developers dialed into that vision and skilled in doing small-format development that uses the land already in our city, already supported by city-owned infrastructure, it means that over time our city has a more affordable cost of living," he said.
The Spruce Street Gardens development is an opportunity to highlight the impact this type of development can have, McClintock said.
New Beginnings, she said, "is tackling one of the most challenging housing issues in Northwest Arkansas: chronic homelessness, which represents 20% of the homeless population, but drives 80% of related costs.
"This project uses an innovative self-sustaining model where market-rate rental income helps subsidize deeply affordable units -- no ongoing government subsidy required. It's a replicable model that could transform how we approach affordable housing development."
THE DEVELOPMENT
The Spruce Street Gardens development, located at 411 W. Spruce St., is designed to be a supportive housing community.
This means the neighborhood -- or pocket neighborhood, as Burchfield refers to it -- will include homes for the recovering chronically homeless as well as homes for intentional neighbors.
"Neighborhoods with support and community end chronic homelessness," Burchfield said.
Plans for the site include doubling the current amount of housing for those with disabilities and long-term homeless backgrounds to offer a total of about 16 units in addition to adding about nine 591- to 1,020-square-foot cottages for intentional neighbors.
The cottages will rent closer to market rent, but will remain affordable, Burchfield said. The revenue from that will subsidize the units and services for those recovering from homelessness.
Burchfield said the design of the project has been very intentional, and the development team is using trauma-informed, or healing-centered, design. This means considering things such as what colors are used, how to allow for privacy as well as community and adding connections to nature -- things that will promote healing and that avoid triggers, he said.
"It's those down in the weeds, little choices that you make, but in a way that's really conscious of who's gonna live here," Burchfield said. "What are their backgrounds? What are their triggers? What is it that helps them feel safe?"
The current residents are also taking part in the conversation about what type of design and neighborhood would work best, Burchfield said, adding New Beginnings is committed to the approach that the solution to homelessness should include people who have been homeless.
"We want the people that live there to feel that they're co-creators of this neighborhood with support and community, so that it's not done for them, but done with them," he said.
The majority of donations that New Beginnings receives is currently focused on making this project a reality and expanding the opportunity for long-term housing, "so that we're ending chronic homelessness and not shelters to the street, to the jails, to the street, to the emergency room, to the shelter -- that's kind of the institutional revolving door that chronically homeless folks live on, and we want to interrupt that," Burchfield said.
He hopes to see the development process begin soon and have Spruce Street Gardens completed by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
"There are real solutions to homelessness," he said. "It just takes investing in program models that are tailored to meet the needs of the people going through chronic homelessness, and there's no amount of winter coat drives and soup kitchens that will change the story of that institutional revolving door. We have to interrupt that cycle with homes, with support in the community, and as we show that that works, scale it up to the size of the problem."
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How to help
Those who would like to donate to the creation of the Spruce Street Gardens development can visit newbeginningsnwa.org.