SAVANNAH, Ga. () — A new study is finding that the Coastal Empire needs to add more housing units to accommodate population growth throughout the area.

The region will need to add about 41,000 housing units in just 5 years to fit the population growth driven by economic opportunities throughout our region according to a new Georgia Tech study.
“We really feel like we’ve equipped these communities to start thinking about what they might what they might need to build, what that might look like, and where it might go”, said Betsy McGriff, project manager for Georgia Tech’s enterprise innovation institute.
The study done by Georgia Tech University’s enterprise innovation institute in the Center for Economic Development Research was completed to give communities a better idea of what they need to do in the next few years to accommodate workforce housing needs.
“So, we knew that about 15,000 jobs would be created in the region, but where would those people live? Because we knew, you know, based on the workforce study, that there would be an influx of people there. There was already very strong just natural growth in the region, but there wasn’t a model out there that actually could say, okay, you put the jobs here and people live here, here and here proportionately”, McGriff said.
The study projects that 41,000 housing units across the region will need to be built along with water treatment and road improvement plans to address the growth. Chatham County will need a projected number of 17,000 new units, and Bryan County will increase almost 40% from 16,000 units to 23,000. The re-legalization of housing types such as carriage houses, duplexes, and multi-family homes are a way both McGriff and Palumbo say the need can be addressed.
“How do we get comfortable with being uncomfortable? How do we fit enough housing units into the city itself? Great examples exist, including our own downtown, that has a diverse mix of housing types, including duplexes, triplexes complexes, carriage houses, granny flats, whatever term you want to throw out there. But there’s a diverse type of different housing types that are mixed throughout the city that create beautiful, walkable spaces that are famous the world over,” Palumbo said.
There are currently several housing projects in the works such as the savannah fairgrounds project that will provide 10,00 housing units and the newest development at 916 MLK Blvd. which will create 16 affordable two-bedroom apartments. The city tells us there are also plenty of resources to help families secure adequate housing and that can be found by clicking or tapping here.