SAVANNAH, Ga. () — The Interagency Council for Homelessness (ICH) in Savannah-Chatham County is the first of its kind in Georgia.

Governor Brian Kemp signed two bills, House Bill 797 or the “Homeless Prevention Act of Chatham County” and House Bill 730.

Both recognized and identified the roles of ICH and the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless (CSAH).

The main goal of these organizations, according to CSAH director Jennifer Dulong, is to coordinate intentional investments into services that can help reduce the number of people on the street. They are doing that through a five-year strategic plan.

“Our goal is care,” Dulong said. “Our goal is compassion. Ensuring that unhoused neighbors have had every opportunity to connect to critical resources and services is what that five-year strategic plan does. It’s measurable, achievable goals.”

According to Dulong, the goal is what’s called “functional zero,” which is rare, brief, or non-existent homelessness.

“We care about street homelessness,” she said. “We care about people who, for various reasons, are in urban camping situations. Our goal is to help people come off the streets. Our goal is to help people get connected with those critical resources and get into housing again. We will continue to say homelessness as a housing issue and having access to housing is the critical component to ending homelessness.”

Projects like the Dundee Cottages for families and the Cove at Dundee for veterans will soon provide that housing with affordable rates from $400 to $700.

“Our data and demographics suggest that there are more people in our community that don’t qualify for permanent supportive housing than do. What we need is affordable housing,” Dulong said. “Homelessness is a very difficult social issue… it takes a community to address the experience of homelessness, and it takes public-private partnership and very intentional investments in services, housing, supportive services, and care of people.”

CSAH is inviting the community to their annual meeting where they’ll present important need-to-know data.

The meeting is being held at the Eckburg Auditorium on Savannah Technical College’s campus at 8:30 a.m. on May 21.