Savannah Democrats tout Kamala Harris's housing affordability plans, ahead of VP's Thursday rally

Caption

Georgia State Senator Derek Mallow, at left, speaks during a news conference in Savannah on Aug. 27, 2024, about Vice President Kamala Harris's housing affordability plans.

Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB News

Savannah Democrats gathered Tuesday to highlight Vice President Kamala Harris's housing affordability proposals, as supporters get ready to welcome Harris to the city on Thursday for a campaign rally.

Elected officials and campaign volunteers held a news conference outside the Live Oak Landing low-income senior housing complex on the city's east side to share Harris's plans to lower the cost of housing, including through a $25,000 down payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers who have paid their rent on time for two years.

Chatham County Commissioner Aaron Whitely said that there is a shortage of at least 10,000 housing units in Savannah, which “means 10,000 working people who are unable to find safety and stability in their housing. Well, y'all, this November we have a choice to turn this around and choose a future where working families in Savannah have the freedom of a safe and stable place to call home.”

Calling Harris's policy wishlist “the boldest housing plan in our generation,” Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity interim chief financial officer Monisha Johnson-Scott commended Harris for her calls to increase the nation's housing supply by 3 million units and to create the first-ever tax incentive for homebuilders who construct starter homes sold to first-time homebuyers.

“American families now have to compete with corporate investors to buy homes, which is completely unfair,” said Johnson-Scott, who spoke in her personal capacity and not on behalf of Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity. “With more than 20% of Savannah residents living in poverty, it is estimated that nearly 21,000 households cannot afford quality housing.”

Georgia State Senator Derek Mallow pointed to Harris's middle-class upbringing in a single-parent household, saying that she can personally relate to the economic challenges many face.

“She worked a summer job at McDonald's,” he said. “I worked at McDonald's myself, and I know how hard it is at McDonald's to be on the grill, in the fryer. So, Vice President Harris understands what many families in Savannah and Georgia are struggling with.”

The speakers contrasted Harris's plans with those featured in Project 2025, a conservative blueprint written by several former Trump administration officials outlining their priorities for a second term in office.

The document's chapter on the Department of Housing and Urban Development was written by Dr. Ben Carson, who served as HUD secretary during Trump's presidency. In it, Carson calls for the elimination of many HUD programs, including a federal fund to increase the nation's housing supply for low-income Americans and a task force to combat racial discrimination in real estate appraisals.

Trump has recently tried to distance himself from Project 2025, but Mallow said that he believes the document serves as an accurate summary of Trump's priorities.

“Folks should wake up and look at Project 2025 as a threat to democracy, because it is,” he said. “And those can deny that they had a part in it or writing it. But my grandmother would always tell me, ‘Something in the milk just ain't clean.’”

Harris and her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are scheduled to visit Southeast Georgia on a Wednesday bus tour, before Harris holds a rally in Savannah on Thursday evening, one week after she formally accepted her party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The times and locations for the events have not been announced. Walz will not be in attendance at the Savannah rally.

The two had previously been scheduled to hold a joint rally in Savannah on Aug. 9, shortly after Harris announced Walz as her running mate, but the visit was postponed due to Tropical Storm Debby.

Thursday's rally will be the first time that a general election presidential candidate will have campaigned in Savannah since the 1990s, according to the campaign.

Harris was last in Savannah in February to share efforts by the Biden administration to expand abortion rights.

This story was updated to clarify that Johnson-Scott spoke in her personal capacity and not on behalf of Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity.