DCA outlines 25 years of 1 Georgia Authority investments, new workforce housing and homelessness pilots

Commissioner Nunn of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs told the newly formed House Rural Development Committee that the agency and the 1 Georgia Authority have invested substantially in rural communities and are launching targeted efforts to address workforce housing and homelessness.

"DCA exists to help communities to develop into thriving places for Georgia citizens," Commissioner Nunn said, summarizing the agency mission and the programs he described to the panel.

Nunn said the 1 Georgia Authority, created after the tobacco settlement, has invested nearly $780,000,000 across approximately 146 counties over 25 years. He said local governments matched that investment with about $816,000,000 in local funds, and that those public investments have helped leverage more than $21,000,000,000 in private investment and supported the creation of more than 65,000 jobs in communities across the state.

Nunn and DCA staff described two targeted initiatives launched in the last 24 months: a workforce-housing initiative intended to spur development of entry-level for-sale housing for local workforces, and a program to replenish Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) certified sites after recent growth consumed much of the state's available sites. Nunn said the agency announced its first six GRAD awards in December.

On community development, the commissioner reviewed programs commonly used in rural areas including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for water, sewer and neighborhood investment; revolving loan funds that complement philanthropy and small-business programs; and long-term, low-interest infrastructure loans administered by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) and other lenders.

Nunn highlighted the role of housing tax credits — both the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and a state housing tax credit — in financing rural workforce housing developments. He described an example in Tifton where coordinated investments including a 60-unit tax-credit development and a CDBG-funded community center led to additional local rehabilitation and new housing options for families working in schools, hospitals and local employers.

On homeownership, DCA officials discussed the Georgia Dream program, a first-time homebuyer program funded with tax-exempt bonds. Commissioner Nunn said the program has helped nearly 52,000 households around the state since its inception and that Georgia's overall homeownership rate is roughly 65 percent, below the Southeast average.

Turning to homelessness, Nunn said the state does not provide direct services but funds local service providers through competitive federal and state grant cycles. He said federal HUD Continuum of Care funds and other federal programs form the backbone of homeless services in many counties; local providers such as the Salvation Army and other nonprofit service organizations deliver most direct services.

Nunn reported that the legislature provided $1 million to pilot a state approach to homelessness last year. In December, the Department of Community Affairs awarded six grants from that appropriation; DCA projects the awards could help about 250 people. Nunn cautioned it is too early—one month after the awards—to report results and said the department will need to build additional capacity across the state to address homelessness more broadly.

Committee members asked who administers homeless-program funds (Nunn said the state grants funds competitively to local service providers and that DCA can supply a list of providers) and about eligibility for 1 Georgia funding (Nunn said most of Metro Atlanta is ineligible because the authority was set up to target smaller, lower-capacity communities, and that eight communities are listed as ineligible concentrated in the Metro Atlanta area).

Committee members asked for the presentation materials; the chair said staff would distribute them after the meeting. Commissioner Nunn and his senior staff — Deputy Commissioner Rusty Haygood, Jenna Webb (director of the 1 Georgia Authority) and Ryan Evans (director of external affairs) — remained available to answer follow-up questions.