The city is still finalizing the details, including the amount of the grant. The city council will discuss the program again at a meeting on Monday.

Grants Pass has been sued twice in recent years over its treatment of homeless residents and is still under a court injunction from one of the lawsuits.

Meanwhile, the city has established a slew of outdoor sites downtown that have made the homeless problem increasingly visible and drawn the ire of nearby homeowners and businesses.

Now, Grants Pass is considering a new competitive grant program for an organization to help alleviate some of the burden on the city.

At a public forum on Monday, City Attorney Stephanie Nuttall said the goal is to create a low-barrier, managed homeless shelter.

“We would want to be able to accommodate couples and/or pets and provide assistance for individuals to move to transitional or permanent housing, participate in addiction recovery, mental health services, employment services, all of the things that can hopefully help get them out of their homeless status,” she said. “At a minimum, though, we need those beds, and we need the space for them to be provided.”

Julie Thomas spoke on behalf of the group Pathways to Stability.

“With this grant opportunity, it might just help us fill the remaining gaps,” she said. “Awarding this grant will provide you, as the city, an opportunity to show in a tangible way your support for the great work that’s already being done and your commitment to being part of the solution.”

This discussion takes place five months after the city council revoked a grant agreement with the local nonprofit Mobile Integrative Navigation Team, or MINT, to purchase land for a low-barrier homeless shelter.

The funding for MINT was approved in December and would have provided $660,000 to the nonprofit to buy two properties, including one with two existing buildings, to create a low-barrier shelter site. The project would also have included 20 Pallet Shelters, an outdoor urban campground, and a center offering support. But in January, newly elected city councilors rescinded that money over concerns about the state of the buildings.

At Monday’s forum, Councilor Indra Nicholas referenced the January decision.

“It does seem like we’re back to where we were,” she said. “It does seem like some time is wasted and perhaps mistakes were made, and I just want to acknowledge that.”

As part of the proposed requirements, recipients of the grant would be required to submit regular reports on their progress and services.

The city council still has a lot of decisions to make, including the size of the grant.

Grants Pass currently spends about $371,000 a year to manage its homeless resting sites downtown.

“There was a question, yet unanswered, what to do with others that don’t want to go to such a place as a managed site,” Councilor Joel King said Monday. “And so we’ll need to deal with that, obviously.”

The city’s tentative timeline indicates that the city council will award the grant in early August, with the new site fully operational by mid-February.

Jane Vaughan is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/12/grants-pass-explores-new-grant-program-to-address-homelessness-crisis/