FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A new partnership could soon allow Washington County to provide low-income housing.

A press release issued on Monday states the county recently received its final allocation of Emergency Rental Assistance 2 funds from the federal government that the release says a portion of could be leveraged into an approximate $30 million, which will go toward affordable housing development in the county through the “Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program for working families that are still economically unstable.”

The remaining $300K of the funding could be available to nonprofit organizations that provide
housing stability services to residents in need in Washington County, the release says.

According to the release, Judge Patrick Deakins is requesting that the Quorum Court appropriate the full $1.7M of the County’s ERA2 allotment to the Excellerate Foundation which will put the funding in the hands of an organization that has proven itself to be “transparent, trustworthy, and able to execute federal programs to the highest standard.”

The Excellerate Foundation says it will ensure that Washington County residents are able to fully benefit not only from the County’s ERA2 funding but also from the tens of millions of additional state and federal funding that the ERA2 dollars make accessible.