UPDATE: The ACC Commission has voted to approve both grants. One vote was unanimous, but the second passed by a very narrow margin.
Last week, ACC Commissioners had a long conversation about whether they should apply for two competitive federal grants, totaling about $2 million, to help address homelessness in Athens. Some commissioners seemed like they might vote against accepting the money, even if it was awarded.
The first of these grants would bring in $940,000, shared between three different agencies (Advantage Behavioral Health Systems, Family Promise and the Sparrow’s Nest), for shelter units, transitional housing and supportive services for the unhoused. The second would bring in $1 million for the Athens Homeless Coalition to implement a new coordinated entry system designed specifically for youth and young adult homelessness (24 years of age or younger).
The two application requests began the evening on the commission’s “consent agenda,” meaning that Mayor Kelly Girtz felt they would be non-controversial among commissioners.
He was wrong.
Commissioner Melissa Link was the first to ask that Girtz remove the items from the consent list, just for a “brief” discussion to highlight the importance of the grants to the public, she said. That discussion ended up lasting over 30 minutes, a significant fraction of last Tuesday’s meeting. Link’s main point, that commissioners were applying for the funds in a “desperate” attempt to address Athens’ problem with homelessness, ended up being lost in the ensuing back-and-forth. During the discussion, at least two commissioners indicated they may actually vote against the grant applications.
Commissioners Stephanie Johnson and Ovita Thornton asked several pointed questions about the grants, as did Commissioners Dexter Fisher, Patrick Davenport and Tiffany Taylor.
Fisher and Davenport’s questions were primarily about the outcomes of previous grant awards. For example, had the grants been successful at helping to keep homelessness in Athens under control?
Melinda Lord, the director of ACC Housing and Community Development Department, told commissioners that reporting on past outcomes was required in the grant application and that she could share all of the data with them, if desired. That seemed to satisfy these commissioners. After Lord answered these and other questions, Girtz asked the body if consensus had been reached.
The answer was a resounding ‘no.’
“I’m not comfortable with the grant. I’m not comfortable with an open-ended authority of spending and applying. I’m not comfortable with that,” Johnson said before launching into a series of specific questions about perceived inaccuracies in the staff report on the grant applications.
Thornton also indicated that she may vote against applying for or accepting any money that was available from these competitive federal grants. “All money is not good money. We don’t chase the money. We should have some directions before we go [and apply for it],” she said.
Similarly, Taylor wondered if the grants might make the homelessness problem in Athens more difficult to solve, instead of less.
“I don’t want there to be unintended consequences … like how we see homeless people flood to Athens because they think we have resources,” Taylor said. “I don’t want to see young people thinking [that] and then we actually don’t have anywhere for them,” Taylor said.
An annual survey of Athens’ unhoused population, called the “point-in-time” count, has repeatedly cast doubt on the idea, echoed by Taylor, that Athens’ homelessness problem is caused primarily by transient visitors. In 2025, the point-in-time count found that 35% of those surveyed were from Athens originally, with 65% having lived here for 6 years or more. These surveys find that people experiencing homelessness come to Athens for some of the same reasons the rest of us do: for school, work or to be close to family and friends. However, a significant number do come to Athens seeking resources such as medical care, treatment programs and other services.
In any case, the grant under consideration is for a coordinated data entry system, focused on youth, not for direct services to people in need. Upon hearing that, Taylor appeared to drop her objections.
Davenport also dropped his objections and said that he will support the grants, although he still wondered whether the millions of dollars spent on addressing homelessness in Athens was actually having a positive impact on the problem. Upon hearing this concern, Girtz felt the need to speak up in favor of the grant for youth homelessness data management.
“Part of what you need is good data so that you can then understand the nature of the needs. If you can better define how that youth population is unique…that helps you say, hey, there are some other funds we need to raise or grants we need to apply for that are particular to those kinds of needs,” Girtz said.
Interestingly, the Athens Homeless Coalition has already finalized their grant application for the youth homelessness data management grant and would have already submitted it were it not for a computer glitch on the federal government’s end. The glitch has made it necessary for the local government to submit the application on the Athens Homeless Coalition’s behalf, which would then complete the scope of work completely independently.
Thornton didn’t seem to accept this explanation, saying “this [grant] is something I would have expected to come through the Athens Homeless Coalition.”
“They can’t apply because of the glitch,” interjected Lord, seeming a bit frustrated as she had already answered this question.
Their back-and-forth continued for a few minutes before Thornton said she would follow up with Lord off-camera so Lord could answer her remaining questions.
The ACC Commission will vote on whether or not to apply for nearly $2 million in federal homeless assistance on September 1.
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