HARRISON, Ark. – On July 22, 2021, the Harrison City Council passed and adopted a resolution that the city would establish a one-time payment of up to 2% of estimated cost of construction of any residential building projects in the city. Mayor Jerry Jackson said this is to address an important need for more residential housing in the city.
“Harrison has a severe shortage of houses,” said Mayor Jackson. “At one time, we’d have six, seven-hundred on the market. Today we have around a hundred, so we have a need of possibly of up to five-hundred homes. So we’re trying to do something to kick start the home building.”
The one-time incentive can’t be higher than $7000, and the program has a cap of no more than $100,000 for the rest of 2021.
We need homes badly, and this is no way going to take care of the need, but hopefully it will get something started.”
Mayor Jackson
For smaller construction companies like Daryl King’s TLD Construction, LLC out of Harrison, this is a great opportunity.
“The basic incentive program is definitely one that sparks interest for smaller builders like myself,” said King. “We have people that come from different areas looking to establish roots here, but yet they have to go elsewhere, either in the county or other communities in the surrounding area to find a home.”
Incentive payments will come from the city’s portion of the .25% sales tax for parks and recreation and economic development. In order to receive payment a builder must:
- Submit a residential building permit before De. 30, 2022.
- Complete construction on the project.
- The city must complete a successful inspection of the property.
Mayor Jackson says the idea originally came from Mayor Adams of Mountain Home that used the same incentive program to jumpstart subdivision developments in the city. Over the last month, the city of Harrison has received ten residential building permits.
