Excellerate Foundation adds affordable-housing division

Rogers-based Excellerate Foundation has a new division under its umbrella — Excellerate Housing.

Why it matters: Attainable housing is a challenge in NWA with rising rents and housing costs making it difficult for some to afford to live in the region, especially near amenities.

How it works: Excellerate funds projects and looks to solve problems related to social support, education and housing. But until now, it didn't have an entire division devoted to creating more affordable housing in the region.

• Hark is its division dedicated to social support. Upskill NWA helps low-income people go to school and later fill needed jobs. Like Hark and Upskill, Excellerate Housing will aim to help households earning 30-80% of the area median income, Excellerate CEO Jeff Webster told Axios.
• The area median income is $92,400, meaning the target demographic is households earning $27,720 to $73,920.

Details: Excellerate does not necessarily plan to build housing on its own. Its leaders want to coordinate with developers, businesses, the state, the federal government and the community to make it easier for people, including teachers, to afford to rent or purchase housing near where they work, Webster said.

What they're saying: Despite the nonprofit's efforts to spearhead affordable-housing projects, many in the community do not realize that is a primary focus of Excellerate, Webster said. The division, which will have its own leader, formalizes those efforts.