City officials discuss housing affordability in Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga (WSAV) – Savannah City Council held a workshop meeting on Thursday to discuss housing affordability.

According to Housing Savannah, a local non-profit, for over 30 years, housing cost outpaced income. A survey done by a local task force found that 21,000 or 40% of Savannah households could not afford housing.

“That time, if you made less than $55,000 a year as a household, you probably couldn’t afford housing,” Martin Freddy,  housing and neighborhood services director said. “That figure is ticked up to about 65,000[dollars].”

In 2021, city council adopted a 10-year Housing Savannah Action Plan, and it officially launched in in 2022.

“When I was elected and took office in 2020, Savannah had never had an affordable housing plan,” Mayor Van Johnson said. “I remember in our initial discussions about it and we wanted to be big and we wanted to be bold  and we were wanting to include everybody.”

Because of Housing Savannah’s investments, they told us they have helped a more than 1,950 households in nearly three years.

“You look a little bit more detail to who are the participants, the homeowners that are participating in the home improvement program average income is about $26,000,” Freddy said. “Ninety-six percent of those households are minority households, 82% are female households.”

Housing Savannah revealed that there are five-major construction projects in 2024 and 2025 that will help with affordability.  As we’ve reported on News 3, one project includes plans to create more than 400 housing units, including affordable apartments for seniors on the former Coastal Empire Fairgrounds property.

“I’m just so grateful because we swung for the fences,” Johnson said. “We’ve been able to do great things, and I think we can go harder.  You know, this is one of the defining issues for our community and our community’s continued viability.”

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