Athens-Clarke County officials briefed commissioners at a work session last week on their plan to spend more than $2 million on affordable housing and homelessness, but the money does not go very far.
ACC expects to receive $967,000 this year in federal HOME funds, an annual block grant program for affordable housing construction and rehabilitation. That funding is not nearly enough to meet the need, though—the Housing and Community Development Department received six applications totaling $2.6 million.
After vetting and ranking the applications, HCD staff and the commission-appointed Vision Committee recommended awarding Athens Area Habitat for Humanity $480,000 to help build four single-family homes at the Micah’s Creek development and the Athens Land Trust $325,000 for two single-family homes in the Savannah Heights subdivision, both located in East Athens. With land and construction costs around $350,000–$400,000 per house, it takes a $200,000–$250,000 subsidy to make a house affordable for low-income families, according to HCD Director Melinda Lord.
Habitat and the ALT requested $600,000 and $710,000, respectively. Other projects not recommended for funding include $500,000 for senior apartments because the developer has not yet received federal tax credits needed to fund the project, as well as $500,000 for Historic Athens and $225,000 for Renew Athens to rehab houses.
In addition, commissioners will be approving recipients for $1.2 million in federal Community Development Block Grants, which can be spent on affordable housing as well as infrastructure, economic development and social services. HCD received 21 requests totaling $2.4 million and funded 15, some at a lower level than requested. For affordable housing, recommended recipients include Habitat ($140,000), Historic Athens ($130,000), the Athens Housing Authority ($130,000) and ALT ($130,000). Two homelessness programs—Family Promise ($36,700) and The Sparrow’s Nest $40,125)—were also recommended.
Separately, the ACC government devotes about $1 million in local tax revenue to “community partnerships,” or nonprofits that provide essential services. The county received 31 applications totaling $3.6 million for those funds. Among the 12 recommended recipients: $220,000 for the Athens Area Homeless Shelter, $40,000 for The Sparrow’s Nest, $104,566 for the Our Daily Bread soup kitchen, $45,000 for the Bigger Vision of Athens shelter, $100,000 for the Salvation Army and $150,000 for a Family Promise eviction prevention program.
During an Athens Homeless Coalition presentation at the Mar. 11 work session, commissioners Ovita Thornton and Tiffany Taylor tore into the coalition’s executive director, Michael Bien, over plans to build low-income apartments with supportive housing for the homeless on an Athens Housing Authority-owned lot at Peter and Vine streets. They said the community was not consulted about the project and does not support it.
Taylor objected to the idea of putting housing for homeless individuals undergoing treatment for mental health into a neighborhood with families. “As a mother of five children who lives across the street from that development, do you know how nervous I am to have my five children who walk to and from the community center to potentially come into contact with someone who is dealing with a mental episode?” she said. “Was that even a consideration when you chose this property?
“I feel like this property was chosen because it is primarily a Black neighborhood, and we want to move the undesirables to a place where other undesirables reside,” Taylor continued.
Bien said he understands those concerns, but that he had nothing to do with choosing the site, and people who are dangerous or violent will not be eligible for the program. “A lot of times people push back on housing projects like this, saying, ‘I don’t want those people in my neighborhood,’ or ‘I don’t want those people near my family,’” he said. “Well, these individuals are already in our neighborhoods. They’re just unhoused, and they sleep outdoors. I don’t feel like this is bringing them to your neighborhood.”
ACC officials also discussed allowing a range of new housing types in residential neighborhoods, from manufactured houses to tiny houses and accessory dwelling units to recreational vehicles. Planners are recommending including non-motorized “tiny houses on wheels” in the definition of RV, to allow RVs in existing mobile home parks and to inspect them. They could also include RVs in upcoming amendments to the zoning code dealing with “missing middle” housing like duplexes, and perhaps create a new zoning category for RVs.
The discussion on RVs grew out of a recent rezoning for a North Avenue apartment complex that displaced about half a dozen RV owners who lived at a mobile home park on the property.
Apartments Proposed at Homewood Hills
A developer is proposing to tear down part of the Homewood Hills shopping center off Jefferson Road and build more than 200 apartments in its place.
Chief Investment Officer Jack Murphy and other representatives from Carter, an Atlanta-based real estate investment and development firm, presented preliminary plans to neighborhood residents last week at a town hall meeting organized by Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Dexter Fisher. Although subject to change, they currently call for tearing down a third of the shopping center toward the back of the property—about 46,000 square feet around the former bowling alley—and building two five-story apartment buildings with a total of 231 mostly two-bedroom units. The development would not have an affordable component. The remaining 92,000 square feet of commercial space is currently under lease and would gradually be renovated. La Parilla would be given the opportunity to move to a new space within the shopping center.
Residents expressed a preference for commercial space and questioned why Carter wants to build apartments. The Carter representatives said that they’ve had a hard time leasing the back spaces because they’re not visible from Jefferson Road, and that adding a residential component would help the retail businesses and restaurants in the remaining space. They said that perhaps the revamped development could draw a higher quality grocery store and a replacement for the Dial America call center.
The property is currently zoned commercial-general, which allows for multifamily development and has a height limit of 65 feet (although the apartment buildings will look shorter because the property is well below street level). Carter will need at least a waiver from ACC’s requirement for commercial space on the first floor of multifamily buildings to move forward with the project, and the company plans to file a request with the ACC Planning Department in May. The developers are hoping for final approval from the ACC Commission this fall, with construction starting next year and finishing in 2028.
CCSD Rejects Charter Schools
The Clarke County Board of Education voted last week to reject two charter school applications.
One proposal, called Early Visionaries Academy, would focus on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) and project-based learning, starting with 112 students in kindergarten and first grade, then expanding to 256 in K–5. The other, Visionaries Academy of Leadership and Entrepreneurship—serving 138 students in sixth and seventh grades initially, growing to 402 in grades 6–11—would offer a “pod-based learning environment” and study abroad opportunities. In both cases, CCSD Superintendent Robbie Hooker told board members in a memo that the proposals risk pulling funding from existing public schools, and they do not align with CCSD’s policies on equity, strengthening neighborhood schools and closing achievement gaps.
“While VALE’s vision for leadership and entrepreneurship is ambitious, its approval would divert resources from CCSD’s strategic initiatives, creating a disjointed and inequitable approach to public education in Athens,” according to Hooker.
Of EVA, Hooker wrote: “EVA’s focus on small-scale, specialized instruction could lead to increased segregation of educational opportunities, rather than enhancing the district’s goal of equitable, high-quality learning for all students. With CCSD already implementing STEAM programs, project-based learning, and student-centered instruction, EVA’s model is duplicative rather than additive—competing for limited resources rather than strengthening the district’s existing schools.”
Five board members—president Mumbi Anderson, Linda Davis, Patricia Yager, Tim Denson and LaKeisha Gantt—agreed with Hooker’s assessment. Mary Bagby abstained on EVA and voted in favor of VALE’s application. Heidi Hensley, Nicole Hull and Mark Evens were not present at the meeting.
Approving the charter schools would be fiscally irresponsible with the uncertainty around federal funding for K–12 education and the state’s new voucher program subsidizing private school tuition, Gantt said.
Both schools can still apply to the State Charter Schools Commission for approval to operate in Athens. At least one charter school that was rejected by the local school board, Movement School Athens, was approved by the state commission and is scheduled to open in fall 2026. State-approved charter schools receive state Quality Basic Education formula funding, but not local tax dollars. Still, they can draw funds away from CCSD schools by drawing away students, which lowers the amount of QBE funding CCSD would receive.
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