Senate subcommittee hears proposal to deploy $50 million for flexible homelessness grants

Commissioner Nunn told the Senate subcommittee the governor’s amended budget includes a $50,000,000 line to expand the State Housing Trust Fund and provide flexible, locally driven grants to help communities address homelessness.

Nunn said the program would operate through competitive, reimbursable grants that require significant local matching — from local governments and philanthropic partners — and would be deployed in two to three rounds to allow both mature and slower-moving communities to participate. “This line item simply would provide funding for the State Housing Trust Fund to support local communities in addressing their local needs with matching funds,” he said.

The department emphasized that grants would be reimbursable — applicants must spend funds on agreed projects before being reimbursed — as a compliance safeguard. Nunn also said recipients would be required to use the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for reporting so the state can track service provision and population trends: “the intent is that we would require anyone who received the state funds to also use that reporting tool.”

Senators pressed for specifics. One asked what applications would be expected to show; Nunn said proposals should explain objectives, intended outcomes, population served, and plans for sustainability because the state funds are one‑time. Another senator reiterated concerns that some programs can unintentionally encourage congregating where services are offered and urged the program be grounded in evidence of what works.

Lawmakers also raised optics and equity questions about metropolitan concentration of funds. Multiple members asked whether Atlanta would capture a large share because of upcoming events; Nunn said the program is designed to be flexible and competitive so that both metro areas that are already resourced and rural communities with less capacity can compete across multiple rounds.

What’s next: the subcommittee received the presentation and asked for additional details on application criteria, the planned timeline for the first round of awards, and what measures will be used to evaluate outcomes. No formal vote or appropriation occurred at the hearing.