SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - On Tuesday, April 14, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and City Manager Pat Monahan addressed what actions are being done to help the homeless.
Monahan said the city started working with the Homeless Authority to begin distributing meals ready to eat to the homeless community. Monahan said the distribution was to begin Tuesday.
According to the Chatham Savannah Authority for the Homeless, in 2018 there were more than 4,600 homeless in Chatham County, the most recent data available.
“In addition to that, the city has been trying to advance as quickly as possible on temporary housing,” Monahan said. “Basically they are tents, but we are going to provide 200 cots. Both to help quarantine the homeless but also to provide overflow to any homeless.”
As for the two homeless couples on opposite sides of Largo Plaza on Abercorn Street, both held signs, looking for kindness from strangers.
CHARLES AND ERIN
Charles Fernatt and his fiancee, Erin Shaw, are currently homeless and living in the woods in a tent behind the CVS Pharmacy on Abercorn Street. The couple arrived at different times in March looking for work.
“We have a four-man tent for me, my fiancee and my dog,” Fernatt said. “A person with a good amount of money blessed us with a bunch of gear needed to survive.”
The couple said it was their second time coming out “trying to fly a sign” or panhandle because times have been hard amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s just not as easy pickings as it usually is because of the outbreak,” Fernatt said about panhandling.
The couple said they usually go around and work. When Fernatt was in Savannah before, he worked at Lizzie’s Burger Bar & Grill on River Street downtown, he said.
“I don’t have a job while traveling this time, until everything opens back up,” Fernatt said. “Right now it’s just surviving until then because that was the initial reason we came down here.”
The couple said they are in good spirits because they both are still alive and healthy. They also said they didn’t know of any food drive, but at different times someone would come around and deliver food to the homeless in the area.
Fernatt said they would usually get some meals from churches, but since the shutdown, he said he wasn’t aware of churches currently providing food to the homeless. The couple said they have been surviving on ramen noodles and Little Caesars.
“I can tell you what, the looks you get though are something else,” Fernatt said. “It’s one thing when you were homeless before all of this, but now they really look at you crazy.”
“We only stick to ourselves and don’t really go out and hang out with people,” Shaw said. “We take proper precautions, we’re not necessarily afraid, afraid of (COVID-19).”
CHRIS AND NICKY
On the other side of Largo Plaza, Nicky and Chris Netherland held signs while sitting in the grass with their two dogs, Cerberus and Merlin.
The couple said they have been living in Savannah for two years and have been living in the tent for the past year.
“We do work normally, but since the coronavirus they have actually stopped a lot of work and we aren’t allowed to go in anywhere and clean,” Nicky said.
Nicky said she knows most about the coronavirus from her mother, who is a registered nurse in Mississippi. Nicky said she heard about Savannah enforcing a curfew because of the pandemic, but “they aren’t really enforcing it much.”
“I’m not really afraid of (COVID-19) because I live outside, our immune systems are a lot stronger than everyone else’s,” Nicky said. “We usually just stay to ourselves anyway.”
The couple said it has gotten harder to panhandle during the pandemic, and they don’t know anyone in the homeless community who has had any symptoms. Nicky said that since the closing of many places downtown, many homeless people have come to the southside of Savannah.
“There are still some kind people that aren’t afraid to still help,” Nicky said. “I mean, it’s a virus that’s killing people, but if your immune system is good and you’re used to being outside, you’re probably going to be OK.”
CITY OF SAVANNAH
Johnson said in March he asked for all of the homeless agencies in Savannah to come together to address the pandemic.
During Tuesday’s conference, Monahan said this was the first phase to tackling homelessness in Savannah. He also said the new homeless camp will include portable toilets and showers. Monahan said the timeline of the camp opening is difficult.
“In this day and time it is difficult to find subcontractors,” Monahan said. “We’ve had two take a look at the site and give us proposals.”
Johnson said the pandemic has given them the opportunity to address homelessness more aggressively and proactively. He said he didn’t want to make these actions “a moment, but want to make it a movement.”
“It has created an opportunity for us to help put this together,” Johnson said. “Hopefully this will transition from something temporary to something more long term.”
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