Arkansas quietly repealed the statute that voided covenants banning disability group homes
Arkansas quietly repealed the statute that voided covenants banning disability group homes
2026-09-09 · Arkansas · Legislation
Until August 5, 2025, Arkansas had a statute that declared any subdivision covenant barring a group home for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities void as against the public policy of the state. That statute is gone. It was repealed by Act 850 of 2025, and we can find no press coverage, law-firm alert or advocacy statement anywhere that discusses the covenant provision at all.1
What that repeal actually means for Arkansas associations is genuinely unresolved, and this report is careful about the difference between the two.
What was repealed
Act 850, introduced as HB 1537 by Representative Ladyman, is short. Its operative sentence reads: “SECTION 2. Arkansas Code Title 20, Chapter 48, Subchapter 6, is repealed.” That subchapter was the Location Act for Community Homes for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Two of the repealed sections did work that reached private covenants directly.
§ 20-48-611, headed “Restriction by private property agreement void,” provided:
“Any restriction, reservation, condition, exception, or covenant in any subdivision plan, deed, or other instrument of or pertaining to the transfer, sale, lease, or use of property that would permit residential use of property but prohibit the use of the property as a Family Home I or Family Home II for individuals with intellectual or other developmental disabilities, to the extent of the prohibition, shall be void as against the public policy of this state and shall be given no legal or equitable force or effect.”
§ 20-48-604 did the parallel job against municipal zoning: a Family Home I was a permitted use in all residential zones, and no conditional use permit or variance could be required.
The Act also conformed § 9-28-402(12)(F) and amended § 20-48-702(a)(2). It carries no emergency clause and was approved on April 17, 2025, so it took effect on August 5, 2025 — the 91st day after the session adjourned sine die.
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