Grants Pass council adopts revised homelessness grant process after months of question and protest

Grants Pass City Council on Sept. 3 approved a revised request-for-proposals (RFP) for a capital grant aimed at creating shelter capacity and other capital improvements for people experiencing homelessness, after weeks of debate about fairness, code compliance and improper communications.

City Attorney Stephanie Nuttall told the council the original solicitation contained widespread deficiencies and that canceling it and issuing a new RFP best protected the city and applicants. "It was determined that it was in the city's best interest to cancel the grant program," Nuttall said, and the draft document she presented tightened minimum requirements and public-review procedures.

The reworked program imposes a hard funding cap (previously discussed at $1,200,000), clarifies site requirements and approvals, and makes some previously scored-but-optional elements mandatory — for example, applicants must now show how services will be provided or facilitated on site. Nuttall also proposed new, explicit disqualifiers: failure to meet minimum program requirements (for example capacity and timeline), unacceptable locations that cannot meet code, and improper communications with decision-makers. The revised scoring…