According to the lawsuit, the property has been the scene of “extensive criminal activity, numerous code violations, and harrowing health and safety concerns.”
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A couple who own a house on South Lieutenant Colonel Leroy Pond Avenue were charged with public nuisance by the city of Fayetteville.
The complaint refers to a previous lawsuit against the Tiffanys that says they let people who are “experiencing homelessness or substance abuse challenges” live in the house or on the land outside without having enough plumbing, electricity, clean water, or sanitation.
In a vote on November 19, the Fayetteville City Council agreed that the city could sue the Tiffanys.
“My vote was based on the fact that we have to make sure that all of our citizens are following our laws,” D’Andre Jones, a member of the Fayetteville City Council, said. “And above all, making sure that in every part of Fayetteville, we are making health and safety a top priority for everyone.”
According to the city’s lawsuit, the property has been the scene of “extensive criminal activity, numerous code violations, and harrowing health and safety concerns” for the past three years.
The city’s complaint says that between January 2022 and September 2024, Fayetteville police were called to the property 276 times for problems like theft, harassment, and stabbings.
During that time, the Fayetteville Fire Department went to the home 54 times. It was also said that the fire department thought the house was “extremely dangerous.”
The area is also known to people nearby as a “haven for the use and distribution of illegal drugs,” according to court documents.
“We have to make sure that when we are putting individuals in these situations, we have to make sure that they’re livable, and that’s it,” said Jones. “If they’re not livable, they have to become livable, or there’s a consequence.”
At the council meeting on Tuesday, Gladys, the owner of the property, defended both the people who live there and the property’s goals.
“People who live in that house are beautiful, wonderful people who are just poor, who are desperately poor, and very, very good people who take care of each other very well,” Gladys said at the meeting.
Sarah Moore, a member of the city council who voted against allowing the case, said that the Tiffanys have recently taken steps to follow city rules.
“They were asked to clean up the encampments, and they cleaned those up from their property,” he said. “They showed that they were ready to make a move.” They went out and cleaned up even more when there was trash on their property.
Moore said that things would have been different if the Tiffanys hadn’t chosen to fix the problems.
She added that she thinks there are other remedies, aside from legal actions, to help solve the problems the city is having regarding the unhoused and the housing crisis.
“Even if we are declaring this property a nuisance, I’m unclear of exactly what that accomplishes long term,” he said.
“In the end, it sounds like we all want this property to be safe…” [and] we don’t have a clear, thorough, strategic pathway forward in looking at how we’re tackling all of the complexities within this housing problem.”