The Grants Pass City Council voted at a special workshop to direct staff to prepare a draft contract with Pathways to Stability for the city's Addressing Homelessness grant, with the award conditioned on the organization's ability to secure a property for the proposed shelter and services.

Councilors made the decision after staff tabulated scores from applicant interviews and materials. Pathways to Stability was the top-scoring applicant in the panel's scoring, and multiple council members said the program's emphasis on coordinated case management, measured outcomes and links to addiction and behavioral-health services weighed heavily in their decision.

Why it matters: Grants Pass and state officials face legal and policy pressure to expand shelter capacity; the RFP required applicants to show readiness to provide 24/7 managed shelter with at least 150 beds and to meet other site, code and accessibility standards. Council chose to advance negotiations with the highest-scoring applicant rather than immediately awarding funds to a different applicant, but it also inserted a site-acquisition contingency to make the award actionable.

What council directed and how the condition will work
Council instructed city staff to prepare a draft contract and bring it back for council action. Staff said they will include clear conditions in the draft requiring Pathways to demonstrate site control or a binding lease before the city finalizes an award. Council President noted the grant timeline and asked staff to return the contract for council action on the published council calendar; staff said the next scheduled council action on the topic is on November 5 and suggested that is the target date for any award action so long as site control is documented.

Council debate and rationale
Councillors who supported directing staff to draft a contract cited Pathways' experience coordinating local providers and the program's emphasis on addiction-recovery pathways and measurable outcomes. Several members said they preferred a conditional award to waiting further while people remain unsheltered.

At the same time some councillors expressed concern the chosen applicant had not yet secured a site for the shelter and urged that the draft contract contain a clear, enforceable schedule for Pathways to demonstrate site control. Several councillors said the county and other property owners are part of parallel negotiations and the city should require firm evidence of an executed lease or purchase agreement before releasing funds.

Next steps
Staff will draft a contract that includes a site-control contingency and the reporting requirements discussed in the workshop. The city plans to return the draft agreement to council for consideration on the council calendar; if Pathways cannot show site control by the scheduled date the city will report that outcome and return to the council for direction on next steps.

Speakers quoted or closely involved in the decision included City Attorney Stephanie Nuttall (process briefing), Mayor Clint Sherf (participated by teleconference), and councilors who spoke during the scoring and motion (Eric, Joel, Kathleen, Indra, Rob, Seth). Applicants who presented during the workshop included representatives from Pathways to Stability, Diversion by Design (applicant: Connor), and Elk Island Trading Group (applicant: Bernie Woodard).