Savannah City Council to consider resolutions to increase housing, services for the homeless

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Happening Thursday, Savannah City Council is considering several agenda items that aim to help those without shelter in the City during their regular meeting.

City Council set aside $7 million in this year’s budget to go into the Savannah Affordable Housing Fund, and at the meeting, they’re set to decide how some of that money will be used.

One resolution would allow the City to give funding to Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless to create a Savannah Homelessness Outreach Team.

Jennifer Darsey, Executive Director for the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless said, “We need expanded street outreach. We need the ability to send the experts into the field to let the homeless individuals, unsheltered individuals and families know where they can go to get services, where they can go to get care.”

Another resolution Council will vote on would allow the Community Housing Services Agency, Inc. to use $3 million for the construction of up to 50 cottages and a resident services building at Dundee Cottages and the Cove at Dundee.

38 of those cottages would go at the Dundee Cottages site, which right now is just a fenced-off lot.

“The unique opportunity that these cottages give us is truly low-barrier to access for families and children. And I think that is a specific point we need to draw out about these cottages at Dundee,” Darsey said.

If City Council approves the measures that would support developing the Dundee Cottages site, the units would be ready for folks to move in by next summer.

Another resolution up for consideration, if approved, would award funds to Union Mission to start up a day center.

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