Pastor Terrance Long wants to take the vacant homes scattered near his church on Scott Hamilton Road and turn them into transitional housing, a family life center and a facility where people experiencing homelessness can earn same-day pay. The ideas are still in early stages, but Long says they represent years of watching unsheltered people seek refuge around his church and wanting to offer something more lasting than food and socks.
A Congregation's Decade-Plus of Service
Long leads Mercy Church, where, according to KARK, the congregation has spent 11 years helping people in need along Scott Hamilton Road, providing food, socks and other necessities. Long says unsheltered people regularly seek refuge and sleep around the church, a pattern he has watched unfold for years in the neighborhood where he grew up. That firsthand view of southwest Little Rock, he says, is part of what is now pushing him from charity work toward a broader vision for the area.
Central to that vision are the vacant homes near Mercy Church, which Long hopes to renovate into transitional housing, potentially for single mothers. He also envisions a family life center built around a gym for young people, along with showers and a kitchen that would provide daily meals for people experiencing homelessness. Long describes it as an open space where people could shower, get a hot meal and a change of clothes, according to the same report.
A Same-Day-Pay Jobs Site
Beyond shelter and meals, Long has proposed converting a vacant building into a same-day-work, same-day-pay facility, intended to help people earn money and regain stability. He frames the idea as a way to give people without stable income some immediate way forward. He says he wants to work with the city and community to strengthen the Upper Baseline Road community, with the broader goal of making southwest Little Rock a place people can come to, reside in and feel a sense of family.
Long has been direct that none of this happens without outside help. He says making the plans a reality will require funding and partnerships with city leaders, businesses and community organizations, since a church congregation alone cannot renovate homes, staff a family life center and run a jobs program. To that end, Long plans to attend the Nov. 17 Little Rock City Board meeting to learn how to move his ideas forward, according to the station's report.
How It Compares to Existing Local Efforts
Long's proposals would join a patchwork of existing homelessness response efforts in Central Arkansas. Little Rock's Board of Directors recently extended its contract with the Bridge to Work program for one year at a cost of $189,410.86, per Arkansas Times. That program, led by Canvas Community Church, employs homeless people in city cleanup work and connects participants to jobs, food, schooling, rehabilitation and housing, paying $12 an hour — a dollar above the state minimum wage.
Other projects point to the scale such efforts can reach. Little Rock's planned Micro Home Village was designed to house 206 people across 80 units, plus 20 additional emergency shelter beds, according to the Arkansas Advocate. The same report notes the Compassion Center in Little Rock has about 300 beds, though nearly 100 are usually available at any given time. A separate Pulaski County plan called for a community of small houses, communal kitchens and bathrooms, a market, and employment opportunities for residents, as Arkansas Times also reported.
Disputed Numbers on the Scale of Need
Just how many people in the region need that kind of help remains a point of disagreement. Arkansas's 2023 Point-in-Time Count found 2,609 people experiencing homelessness statewide, with about 773 of those in Central Arkansas, per the Arkansas Advocate. A separate count covering Pulaski, Saline, Lonoke and Prairie counties also landed on 773 people, which organizers described as the area's lowest figure in a decade, according to KATV.
That low count has drawn pushback. Arkansas Community Advocates co-director Princess Kali disputed the figure, telling KATV, “Homelessness is on the rise. It has been since 2017.” A separate tally from the Arkansas Balance of State Continuum of Care put its 2023 Point-in-Time Count at 871 people experiencing homelessness across its coverage area, including 389 sheltered and 482 unsheltered individuals.
For now, Long's plans remain conceptual — there is no confirmed funding, timeline or finalized partnership behind the transitional housing, the family life center or the jobs facility. What is clear is his intent to keep pushing the idea forward, starting with next week's city board meeting, as he looks for a path to turn vacant homes near his church and a vacant building into something he hopes can revitalize the surrounding neighborhood and give people in need a renewed sense of opportunity.
