Jacksonville mayor hopeful residents to be relocated from shutdown apartments

The Jacksonville mayor said federal hang-ups are threatening to delay the relocation of residents out of Willow Bend Apartments, which the city shut down last month.

JACKSONVILLE, Ark. — The process of relocating residents out of Willow Bend Apartments has hit some hang-ups at the federal level, according to Jacksonville Mayor Jeff Elmore.

Elmore has said since the complex was shut down in July that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would be relocating the remaining residents.

“We had spoken to HUD,” Elmore said. “And the representative that we were talking with told us at that point in time that absolutely they would be able to relocate the residents that were there.”

The complex was shut down after becoming a hotspot for crime, not to mention plus poor conditions, including water damage and bugs.

That’s why Elmore said he was upset when HUD began to delay the process.

“One of the higher-ups at the regional office in Kansas City said that they would indeed be able to relocate and move the people,” Elmore said. “But it was not going to be in the time frame in which we were initially told that would happen- it was going to be a process that would take over 120 days.”

Elmore said he thinks miscommunication at the Kansas City office led to the timeline change.

We reached out to HUD for comment on this story, and while their statement didn’t mention any miscommunication, they did explain why the relocation process would take a while.

“HUD issued a Notice of Default on the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contracts and initiated the formal abatement process to secure Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs) and relocation assistance for eligible households,” the statement said. “This process typically requires a minimum of 120 days to finalize funding and execute relocation contracts.”

Elmore called that time frame unacceptable, considering what the remaining residents, some of whom spoke with us last week, are going through.

“Borderline dangerous, dirty, unsafe, unsanitary,” Elmore said. “You can fill in the adjective, and it’ll sum it up. That 120 days just can’t happen.”

Since then, Elmore said he’s been working with local and even federal officials like Senator Tom Cotton to come up with a plan.

He now believes he has one. The city will use a federal grant to relocate residents, and then the Jacksonville Housing Authority will work with HUD to get them vouchers for their new housing.

“I’ve actually spoken to one of the residents of the apartments this morning and told her, hopefully, there was help coming and coming soon,” Elmore said. “We’re talking hopefully just a matter of a week or two instead of four months minimum.”

We also reached out to Patrick McCann, who serves as Press Secretary for Senator Cotton, for comment.

“Senator Cotton encourages any Arkansans experiencing issues with a federal agency to reach out to his office for assistance,” McCann said.