SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS HOMEBUILDERS ASSOCIATION
February 22, 2007, 6 P.M.
Harbor Oaks

Good evening. Thank you for this opportunity to visit with you about Pine Bluff and how the residential construction industry is such a vital component of this community.

Residential housing is key to the local economy because of the number of employment centers that building one house affects. The construction of just one housing unit connects with a banker, title office, realtor, land surveyor, building material supplier, trucking company, subcontractors, utility companies and government. If each company represented here tonight were to build eight homes, you can imagine the impact this would have on our local economy.

Housing is also key to improving the quality of life for our citizenry.  Many of the dilapidated and abandoned houses you see in Pine Bluff are more than just eyesores. They are dangerous nuisances to our citizens.

Nuisance houses obviously reduce property values in a neighborhood, but they attract drug merchants and arsonists as well. We’ve also noticed a correlation between many of our homicides and their proximity to those kinds of houses.

Nuisance houses also subtract from our ability to present a positive image to the world that will help us compete in the global market. A community’s existing businesses consider among a number of factors the stock of adequate affordable housing before expanding, as do businesses looking to start operations in a new community.

That’s why this administration has placed such an emphasis on demolishing those nuisance properties. The City of Pine Bluff caused the demolition of more than 270 condemned properties in the last two years.

We also know, however, that if we are to achieve for our citizens a safe, successful and self-respecting community, we cannot just tear houses down.

In some cases nuisance houses just need some work to be brought up to code. As such, in the last two years the City of Pine Bluff has sold 981 remodeling / repair permits.

We also acknowledge that homeownership, which in Pine Bluff stands at about 56 percent, creates stakeholders in a community. People are less likely to engage in crime if they own a house, and they are more likely to have jobs, maintain the properties they occupy and involve themselves in civic and neighborhood affairs. Homeownership even helps foster a better educational environment.

So, in essence, homeownership stabilizes a community. To that end, the City of Pine Bluff is in the process of crafting an affordable housing plan that will generate the construction of more housing units in our community. Our Economic and Community Development Department will also continue to develop its Turtle Creek and Eureka Heights subdivisions with this community stabilization goal in mind.

As you can see, you as homebuilders then have a supremely important role to play in maintaining our economy through job retention and job expansion and by accommodating people who as homeowners will have a vested interest in progress for our city. I applaud your work and encourage you to continue to improve the liveability of Pine Bluff.

Again, I thank you for your time and attention and I look forward to addressing any questions or concerns you might want to share with us this evening.