Tenants living in derelict housing face conditions that contribute to higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, asthma, violence, and other life-threatening risks.
Georgia Benton grew up in Yamacraw Village. She and her son, LaRay Benton, have been fighting the housing authority’s current redevelopment plans. They say the plans would displace residents and disrupt the two-century-old First Bryan Baptist Church. SAVANNAH, Ga. — Blocks from where tourists stroll along the cobblestoned riverfront in this racially divided city, Detraya Gilliard made her way down the dark, ruptured sidewalks of Yamacraw Village, looking for her missing 15-year-old daughter.
Desaray Gilliard was a freshman in high school when she died in May 2022, while living in one of the nation’s oldest public housing projects in Savannah, Georgia. The teen’s shooting death at Yamacraw Village remains unsolved. Current and former tenants say the Housing Authority of Savannah, the agency that oversees Yamacraw, has ignored the mold, rats, and roaches that infest the units and sicken residents, and the bullet holes in windows and gunshots that ring through the night. Now they fear the city is using the poor state of Yamacraw as justification to push residents out.
Last year, a consultants’ report found a host of problems in Yamacraw, including water leaks and faulty wiring. “The Remaining Useful Life of the Property is estimated to be 0 years,” the consultants wrote. The housing authority wants to demolish Yamacraw and replace it with homes that are “healthier, more energy efficient and accessible,” the report said.
“Anytime you want to do something to make money — go destroy the historic Black community,” said Georgia Benton, who grew up in Yamacraw. “But ain’t nobody hollerin’ ‘Stop.’” About seven years ago, after his previous Savannah landlord raised the rent, Paris Snead, his wife, and two children found themselves homeless. A nonprofit helped them get into Yamacraw, where rent was $750 a month.
HUD, which conducts periodic inspections at public housing complexes, declined an interview request. The agency referred questions to the Housing Authority of Savannah. “The federal government really failed to invest in public housing, to keep it in good condition, and to keep those communities thriving,” Saadian said, “and in many cases, actively contributed to those communities declining.”
“It’s been the worst experience of my life,” Atterbury said. “Sitting here will make you very depressed.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Retired HISD nurse claims AED battery order went unfulfilled for months: 'You're risking somebody'The retired nurse said she was angry to see what happened at Marshall Middle School and added that her final year working for the district was soured when an AED needed new batteries but was told it wasn't in the budget.
Read more »
OPINION: Ambler Road is an unfulfilled promise to AlaskaAlaska needs the federal government to get to yes on the Ambler Road as quickly as possible and finally fulfill the promises made to our state long ago.
Read more »
Southwest Houston residents frustrated with developers over unfulfilled promisesResidents tell FOX 26 they have reached out to their Homeowner's Association and the developer, but have yet to get any clear answers or feedback.
Read more »
Trump border event at wall that Obama built highlighted an unfulfilled promiseThe Trump administration added the unfinished extension up the hillside, an engineering challenge that cost at least $35 million a mile. The unused panels of 30-foot beams were procured during the Trump administration and never erected.
Read more »
Unfulfilled expectations? – CommerzbankAfter last week's focus on the state of the US labor market, this week inflation is back on the center stage.
Read more »
‘Taking it off the speculative market’: These nonprofits help tenants afford to stay putCalifornia community land trusts – nonprofits that buy land and sell or rent back the buildings on it — give low-income residents stability.
Read more »