15 Nov City breaks ground on more than 50 new affordable housing units
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — More than 50 new forms of affordable housing will soon be available in the Hostess city.
On Thursday, city officials broke ground on the Dundee Cottages project, adding 40 dwellings for residents all for less than $700 a month.
“They’ve had a wonderful experience next door, very little crime if any,” explained Martin Fretty, Director of Housing and Neighborhood Services for the city of Savannah. “Almost 100% occupancy the whole time, stable tenants and these are just good people that need a place to live that doesn’t cost a lot. So the rent out here, we’re estimating they’ll probably be around 500-600 dollars and that includes utilities.”
In addition, the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless will continue with phase two of the Tiny Homes project, which is located right next to the Dundee Cottages.
The move adds a dozen more tiny homes that will specifically house retired veterans.
“The project behind us. The homes for veterans, the success that has happened at that project was expected but still tremendous, and that’s what’s going to happen here with 50 homes,” said City Manager Jay Melder.
The city will also construct a 2,000 sq. ft. service center on-site, for all the residents of the soon-to-be development. Amounting to 86 houses in total.
Officials say, they’re excited to see a brand new community filled with affordable housing, something two out of five Savannahians struggle to find.
“The other nice thing about this is the homeless authority, as the kind of owner-operator of the project, they’ll be working with all the other service agencies in town that have people that are looking for housing, and they’ll be working with them to help filter them in,” Fretty said.
Right now, the city of Savannah is shooting to have these houses up and running by summer, 2023.
I’m told they’re shooting for June or July as a target date.