By Caitlin Philippo
TENSIONS were high at Wednesday’s meeting of the Savannah Housing Authority. The proposed demolition of the historic Yamacraw Village has caused ripples throughout the community, with increased concern that residents are not being honored throughout the process.
From Executive Director Evette Hester’s first mention of Yamacraw, attendees interrupted the meeting in order to question board members about the status of the demolition application.
Board members were clearly ruffled when one attendee accused them of “running out the clock,” a reference to the application’s potential for imminent approval while a number of logistical issues hang in the balance.
The attorney for the housing authority, Dana Braun, fought back against any attempts made to derail the meeting.
Citing the Open Meetings Act, Braun appeared combative when declaring that while meetings were open to the public, that in no way signified room for public comment.
This appeared to be a point of general confusion. Recent online calls for support at the meeting by Coastal Democrats and other local activist groups appear to have misrepresented the public’s ability to speak out at these meetings – a fact that Hester was keen to remind attendees.
She designated the upcoming community meeting on the 25th as the chance for citizens to voice concerns – a meeting that will be held as the remaining days before potential demolition dwindle down to the wire.
Board members stated that a final decision on the application can be expected within 30-45 days.
In a highly unorthodox move from the Housing Authority, Vice-Chairman Edward Gresham volunteered to stay after the conclusion of the meeting to hear out attendees eager to discuss their unease at the proceedings.
Gresham, Hester, and Real Estate and Development Director Rafaella Nutini sat with community members for just under an hour.
The lack of a binding directive that affordable housing would be rebuilt after the demolition was shut down by Nutini, who responded that “bringing 315 public housing units back again to that site is not smart. We’ve been there. We know it does not work. We need a mix of incomes. We need different programs together with higher revenues so we can operate the properties properly.”
Attendees did not back down, with one promptly responding that “if there is nothing in writing that is legally binding, what tends to happen historically, as we all know, is that things start getting chipped away once the developer that you want to go with or people that are putting in proposals are like, ‘well, this isn’t going to work for us financially, and this isn’t going to work for us financially,’ and pretty soon it’s who are we actually appealing to? Is it the developer or for the people who are asking for the exact same deal they have at Yamacraw right now?”
No resolution was established between the Housing Authority and the community, with similar appeals continuing back and forth on both sides.
Community scrutiny of efforts to demolish Yamacraw have long been underway. After failing the environmental review portion of their previous bid to demolish, the Housing Authority filed a Section 18 demolition, which offers no guarantee that affordable housing be built in its place.
In response to the new application, the Yamacraw Resident Council submitted a list of six requests to the HA in May of 2025.
The requests largely focus on the tenant’s retaining the “same terms, rights, and protections as under their existing public housing lease,” with additional emphasis placed on a tenant’s right to return and a “one-for-one replacement of all 315 units with permanent, deep affordability.”
Current residents are being offered Section 8 vouchers as a part of the relocation package. The use of vouchers poses a host of difficulties in the current housing market.
Due to where vouchers are often accepted, the majority of residents would end up living outside of their school district and current community.
Data provided by the Housing Authority of Savannah noted that voucher use in relatively low in areas close to Yamacraw village, with only 1.56% of all Chatham County vouchers being used within downtown Savannah.
A voucher, which is good for ninety days, have an approximately 50% success rate. No anti-discrimination laws against Section 8 vouchers exist in Georgia.
The combined effect of low success rates and a flood or residents looking for similar housing conditions has caused residents to express worry about becoming unhoused before finding suitable housing.
Despite the application not being approved at the time of this reporting, the HA has assured residents they will receive vouchers from HUD.
Mayor Van Johnson has approved the demolition in writing, despite no prior discussion with members of the Resident Council. Written approval from the Mayor is a necessary part of the application in order for the HA to move forward with the demolition.
The upcoming community meeting to be held regarding the Yamacraw demolition will be on September 25th at the Union Mission on Fahm St. It will start at 5:15pm.
A petition regarding resident demands can be found here.