Fort Smith starts work on tiny-home neighborhood for homeless adults

Dirt moving at I and South 6th Streets turned a long-planned idea into a construction site Tuesday, as Fort Smith marked the start of Next Step Neighborhood, a 30-tiny-home community for homeless adults who need more than a night shelter.

The project sits on about four acres of former industrial land and is being built by Next Step Homeless Services with support and guidance from the City of Fort Smith and the Arkansas Development Finance Authority. MAHG is the architect and Petree Construction is the general contractor, with the neighborhood budgeted as a $6.1 million project. A building permit for $5.57 million in new construction at 816 S. Sixth Street was issued in January 2026.

The neighborhood is designed as bridge housing, not a permanent stop. Next Step says it is modeled after successful programs in other parts of the country and is meant for adults who need individualized support while they work toward stable housing. Along with the 30 tiny houses, the site will include individualized case management, communal laundry and dining space, classrooms, a clothes closet, meeting space for social workers and residents, and office space for staff.

Sharon Chapman, Next Step’s executive director, said the project is about “security, stabilization, and a path forward.” She said moving staff to the site will let the organization interact with residents around the clock, a big shift from the old emergency-shelter model that often keeps services separated from the housing itself.

The groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled for May 27 at 10:30 a.m. at the corner of South I Street and 6th Street. Construction is slated to begin in December, with completion expected by early 2027. Once the new neighborhood is finished, Next Step’s current location at B and North 6th Streets will close.

The path to this point has been slow and deliberate. The Fort Smith Board of Directors approved a planned zoning district at 815 S. Sixth Street in 2022 after months of meetings and negotiations, clearing the way for non-congregate housing and the relocation of Next Step’s base operations to the southwest-central Fort Smith site.

Susan Tucker, Next Step’s board president, said homelessness often comes down to circumstances such as lack of affordable housing, healthcare and supportive services. She argued that investing in pathways to affordable housing makes a community more desirable, not less. Next Step says that case is already visible in its own numbers: in 2024, it served 137 housing clients, including 47 veterans and 28 children, and 89 clients completed the program. Of those completers, 83% moved on to permanent housing.

The organization also served 1,563 day-room clients in 2024 and delivered more than 183,850 services, from meals and hygiene supplies to IDs, birth certificates, health care, mail, case management, clothing and blankets. With the new neighborhood, those services are moving from emergency response toward something harder to build and easier to measure: a real place to stay, a staff presence on site, and a route out of homelessness that starts with construction and ends with a front door.