City Delivers on Housing Trust Fund Promise

We took another significant step to demonstrate our commitment to affordable housing as a public safety and quality-of-life issue with the creation of a housing assistance program, also known as a housing trust fund. Residents now have additional support in their path toward home ownership and the associated benefits of generational wealth and financial freedom.

The Board of Directors approved a resolution establishing the housing assistance program during its Dec. 2 meeting. This follows our promise during the State of the City address earlier this year to create a housing trust fund as a way to tackle the affordability crisis and local housing shortage.

Even before we established the trust fund, our Department of Housing and Neighborhood Programs has been working tirelessly to add affordable housing options in the community, with the creation of more than 200 units thus far. The new program will help accelerate our efforts to build new homes for low- and moderate-income Little Rock residents, while also expanding opportunities for workforce housing for teachers, first responders and others essential to our growing and thriving City. Economic mobility and community revitalization will be tangible benefits of the program.

Our next step is to secure funding for the program, which will help pay for new construction, home preservation and rehabilitation, rental assistance, pre-eviction support, down payment and closing costs assistance, land acquisition, and more. The City will actively seek out grant dollars as well as support from community partners like nonprofit agencies, lenders, developers and many others. The City’s Community Housing Advisory Board will oversee spending from the new fund.

The resolution approved by the Board is available on our website, as is a list of resources available to tenants or first-time homebuyers.

We must use every tool available to address housing insecurity and work to ensure every resident has a safe, stable, affordable home.

Quarterly Recycling Events Make Impact

For many years, Little Rock has led the way for the state and region in recycling and sustainability. Through efforts like our quarterly Little Rock Recycles Days, we demonstrate our commitment to a more environmentally friendly City now and for generations to come.

Through our longstanding relationship with our recycling partner, WM, which handles residential recycling pickup, we have expanded at-home recycling options over the past few years to include glass — and more recently, WM began collection of plastic to-go cups, paper cups and coffee cup sleeves in curbside recycling bins.

It is important for us to offer opportunities for residents to recycle other items and keep them out of our waste stream, so the City’s Sustainability Office and the Little Rock Zoo partner with Keep Little Rock Beautiful to host Little Rock Recycles Day four times a year.

In 2025, residents recycled more than 30 tons of materials during just three Little Rock Recycles Day events (one scheduled event was cancelled because of inclement weather). Among the materials were 14.5 tons of documents for shredding, 12.2 tons of electronic waste, nearly a ton of glass, 660 pounds in plastic bags, and three tons of donations of clothing and goods for Goodwill Industries.

We would not reach these numbers without the help of our community partners and our residents who make recycling a priority.

As a reminder, while our Little Rock Recycles days occur quarterly, the City’s Green Station is open year-round for Little Rock residents to dispose of recyclable materials that are not accepted in curbside bins. That includes electronic waste and plastic bags. The Green Station, at 2000 Thayer St., is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on the last Saturday of every month from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Please mark your calendar now for the next Little Rock Recycles Day on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in the east parking lot at the Little Rock Zoo.

Here’s a quick look at what’s going on this week in the City of Little Rock:

Tuesday, December 9: The Little Rock Board of Directors will set the agenda for its next regular meeting at 4 p.m. in the Board Room at City Hall, 500 W. Markham St. All board meetings are open to the public, and all meetings are livestreamed on the City of Little Rock’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

Wednesday, December 10: The Little Rock Parks and Recreation Committee holds its monthly meeting at 11:45 a.m. in the Board Room at City Hall.

Thursday, December 11: The Little Rock Planning Commission will meet at 4 p.m. in the Board Room at City Hall. The Planning Commission considers rezoning requests and other matters related to planning and zoning within Little Rock’s city limits.

Thursday, December 11: Residents can learn more and provide feedback on the City of Little Rock’s proposed Rose Creek Trail project during an open-forum public meeting with the City’s Public Works Department. The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road.