SAVANNAH — Savannah officials say they will seek to demolish a longtime public housing complex on the western edge of downtown, saying it would cost too much to renovate.
The Savannah Morning News reported that Earline Davis, the Housing Authority of Savannah executive director, told the City Council last week the authority could seek federal permission this year to demolish the 315-unit Yamacraw Village. She said it could take up to a year for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to make a decision.
Yamacraw Village was built in 1941. Davis said residents were notified of the possible demolition last fall. If the complex is knocked down, people living there would get financial assistance to relocate them. Under the fastest possible timeline, relocation could begin late this year.
Davis said redeveloping the area with new housing would be the authority's “first choice."
“And affordable housing," she said. "The folks who are impacted who live there now and would have to relocate, they would have the first right of refusal to come back.”
Housing officials demolished a similar housing project in 2007, completing a new development with 320 multifamily and senior living units and 13 single-family homes in 2012.
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