Organization: Housing Goal Team

Goal Team Co-Chairs: Becky Fratesi & Sue Key

Mission Statement: Improve the number and quality of homes in Phillips County and the percentage of home ownership by increasing the interaction among community organizations and institutions in order to foster model neighborhoods, new financing programs, and aggressive grant and funding identification.

Successful community development in Phillips County requires revitalization of historic commercial districts and adjacent neighborhoods. The perception of a downtown area and its adjacent neighborhoods impacts the ability of a business district to attract customers and recruit businesses.

Historic buildings and related public spaces of traditional commercial districts enrich civic life and add value on many levels to a community.  Historic preservation involves not only the process of rehabilitating, restoring and renovating older commercial buildings but also the process of adopting planning and land uses policies.

Public interviews in the five cities involved in the Main Street Arkansas Delta Initiative support the viability of downtown housing in the upper stories of commercial buildings as well as the need to improve the housing stock of adjacent neighborhoods.

Housing development and redevelopment will begin with general clean-up and code enforcement activities, maintenance of properties and then move to more extensive redevelopment efforts.  The problem of absentee ownership and rapidly deteriorating housing stock is significant and in certain cases building demolition and removal is the only feasible option.

Following is the list of strategic goals related to housing identified by Phillips County residents. For a complete list of action steps associated with these goals, download the Phillips County Strategic Community Plan.

Strategic Goal Number One – Commission housing market studies for Helena-West Helena, Marvell and Elaine, Arkansas in order to access the need for additional housing in Phillips County and determine the specific types of housing needed.  

Strategic Goal Number Two – Develop and implement a general neighborhood revitalization and development plan in cooperation with the municipalities in Phillips County and existing neighborhood organizations.

Strategic Goal Number Three – Construct a quality affordable housing complex that includes 20 two- and three–bedroom units.  This complex will serve as a replacement for existing substandard housing that now exists in dilapidated areas such as the Over the Levee neighborhood and the historic corridor that stretches between the Mississippi River bridge and downtown Helena. 

Strategic Goal Number Four – Complete the Brownfield planning study and obtain Brownfield designation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Work in cooperation with the Brownfield’s Assessment Program to rehabilitate abandoned commercial and industrial properties whose reuse may be impeded by real or perceived contamination.

Strategic Goal Number Five – Initiate specific neighborhood revitalization and development plans in the “Over the Levee” neighborhood.

Strategic Goal Number Six – Develop and implement a homeownership program that educates prospective home buyers on issues such as budgeting, family economics, general home buyer and renter education and the benefits of Individual Development Accounts so that new homeowners are better equipped to maintain their homes in good order.

Strategic Goal Number Seven – Redevelop and improve Holly Street by widening the road, covering open drainage ditches that run along both sides of the road, and adding sidewalks and lighting so that traffic flow is improved and the neighborhood is safer for residents.

Strategic Goal Number Eight – Develop a neighborhood safety program for communities in Phillips County that includes organized neighborhood watch and alert programs that focus on general safety issues, with specific emphasis on crime reduction.

Strategic Goal Number Nine – Redevelop the historic MM Tate School in Marvell, Arkansas, into a multi-use facility. A former black high school with historic significance to the community, the MM Tate School is located in a 12-block area previously targeted for redevelopment by the citizens of Marvell and would serve as a cornerstone of redevelopment for this area.