After years of talking about it, Gwinnett should finally stop leaving millions of federal dollars on the table to address its growing problem of homelessness, by establishing its own “Continuum of Care.”
It should not be surprising that Gwinnett — the state’s second most populous county, which just surpassed over 1 million people this year — has a homelessness problem.
While it is notoriously difficult to get an accurate count given different definitions of homelessness, in 2024, for example, the Georgia Department of Education found that Gwinnett County Public Schools had the highest number of homeless students.
Gwinnett County’s own, commissioned 2022 housing study identified homelessness — and the increased need for resources such as transitional housing — as a critical challenge.
This challenge is ever-present in the area I represent, unincorporated Norcross, where we see encampments popping up all the time. It’s an area that has the highest housing cost burdens in Gwinnett — as well as the oldest housing stock, the highest concentration of single-family homes rented out, the highest concentration of extended stays in Georgia and 11 of Gwinnett’s 14 AJC-designated “Dangerous Dwellings” of multifamily complexes.
My nonprofit does street outreach to meet people where they are and assist with service navigation, among many service providers in Gwinnett. And we all face the same issue constantly: if there’s not enough safe and stable to house people, particularly those who might have behavioral health issues, we will always struggle.
Gwinnett is leaving federal money on the table
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
To address housing, Gwinnett chooses to rely overwhelmingly on federal dollars. In 2024, Gwinnett County provided $18 million for affordable housing, but it was pass-through federal money from the American Rescue Plan.
Annually, Gwinnett allocates so-called CDBG and ESG funds it receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as the county is large enough, unlike most counties in the state, to receive that money automatically, as opposed to having to go through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
More recently, Gwinnett has supported its centralized housing assessment center for coordinated entry, helmed by the adroit Latin American Association, with approximately $1 million from the county’s own coffer.
Yet, of its proposed $409 million capital budget for 2026, just 0.1% is dedicated to “housing and development.”
Given its choice to rely primarily on federal dollars, it is puzzling that Gwinnett is leaving federal money on the table to address the problem of homelessness — approximately $6.9 million, if not more, every year.
This should be concerning, too, whether one is Democrat or Republican, because Gwinnett is going a step further: it is ceding not just actual money to other, smaller jurisdictions — who, while certainly also needing funds, are effectively getting more than their federal share of dollars — but also local control.
How? By failing to establish its own so-called “Continuum of Care” — a federal designation where jurisdictions receive formula funding to create and run a true, united, multiagency effort in a local jurisdiction to address homelessness.
Were it to establish its own continuum, Gwinnett would receive — and directly control — an estimated $6.9 million, measuring by 2024 numbers (called, in U.S. Housing and Urban Development terms, its Preliminary Pro Rata Number). That many can be used to help build transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and other housing programs with much-needed wraparound services.
County’s spending on indigent health care remains stagnant
Instead, by participating in the larger state continuum — along with 151 counties — in 2024, Gwinnett received about $1.4 million. (To be clear, this number is an approximation, because the state continuum does not even require applicants to identify which jurisdictions they are spending money in — which itself speaks to the larger issue).
Not surprisingly, the surrounding large areas — namely, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and the city of Atlanta — have their own CoCs.
In 2024, the city of Atlanta and DeKalb received $14.5 million and $8.5 million, respectively. Other jurisdictions in Georgia — Athens, Augusta, Columbus and Chatham County — also assert local control through their own CoC.
This is part of a larger pattern: Gwinnett underfunds indigent health care, workforce development and public defense. For example, Gwinnett’s public defense budget is approximately $14.5 million, and its use of contract attorneys has been challenging. By comparison, surrounding Fulton ($27.5 million) and DeKalb ($17.5 million, despite having fewer people than Gwinnett) both spend more and assert greater control by utilizing in-house attorneys.
The amount Gwinnett spends on indigent health care has remained stagnant since Gwinnett restored these funds in 2022. And though the exact amount is unknown, Gwinnett almost certainly leaves significant federal Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act dollars on the table by not administering — unlike surrounding counties of DeKalb, Fulton and Cobb — its own workforce development board.
While conversations around those issues are newer, the push for CoC in Gwinnett is at least 10 years old. In 2026, Gwinnett can finally grab one of the lowest hanging fruits to address our housing problem, by establishing its own Continuum of Care.
Marvin Lim, D-Norcross, is state representative for House District 98 and an attorney. He is also the CEO and founder of the nonprofit Lucky Shoals Community Association Inc.
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