LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Wednesday morning, Little Rock community leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to recognize the end of construction on one affordable house.
"We know that this is a true national issue: the shortage of affordable housing within the United States of America," Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said. "It takes all of our cities to work together to ensure we have more housing for our residents and for our nation."
The ceremony is a part of Scott's 100-home initiative, which aims to provide affordable housing to low and moderate-income families.
"We are here as we continue to focus on the City of Little Rock's 100-home initiative, which we started about two years ago," Scott said. "I believe there were somewhere around 50 to 60 homes that we've been able to allow to have infrastructure and work with contractors and developers within the City of Little Rock to ensure that we focus on affordable housing in our city."
Assistant Director of Housing and Neighborhood Brian Contino said the goal of providing these houses is to offer generational wealth.
"This really does help open up home ownership to residents and allow people to have their own property, be able to call something home, and have that pride of ownership that we're able to provide to the residents," Contino said. "Then they can start building equity and kind of start creating that generational talk about owning homes."
The housing market has been volatile the past few years, with unstable rates many cannot afford. However, Little Rock Ward 6 City Director Andrea Lewis said part of the initiative is ensuring families that affordable homes are attainable.
"To show that it may be that mom or that father who's thinking, 'Well, I would really like to have a home, but what can I do?" Lewis said. "Just reach out because the city is working to combat the issue with the limited housing that's here right in the city."
Click here to check if you qualify for this affordable housing.