The Ad Hoc Committee for Housing Instability and Homelessness recently appointed by Mayor Jonathan McCollar is not aimed at creating a homeless shelter in downtown Statesboro, he clarified during the Tuesday morning, May 6, City Council meeting.

Instead, the 10-member panel will consider such questions as the availability of temporary "transitional housing" for families who lose their homes and how services for addressing mental health issues and addiction can help prevent homelessness, McCollar said. When he named the committee back at the April 1 council meeting, he gave it an initial 120-day timeline to study the issue and make policy recommendations.

"The purpose of that committee is to actually study housing instability," McCollar said Tuesday. "One of the things that we recognize in our conversations with our experienced people here is that you have a lot of families that's dealing with housing transitions, so they may be leaving one apartment and they  may be  getting ready to move to another one, but there's a space, there's a gap that's there when (families) may be without housing."

The committee will look at challenges of that kind and offer recommendations on "exactly what direction we need to go in," he said. The mayor made his remarks during "other business from City Council" time in the meeting.

"Somehow, out of that conversation … there's been some misinformation in regards to the city of Statesboro building a homeless shelter in downtown Statesboro," McCollar continued, to the council and public. "I would just like to say that the city of Statesboro has no plans on building a homeless shelter in downtown Statesboro. This committee's  sole purpose is to study to find out where we are so we'll be able to address the needs of our community."

He called it "a little bit disheartening" to hear statements criticizing a "project to work to address some of the most vulnerable people in our community, especially folks that may be going through a difficult time" made on the basis of a misunderstanding.

McCollar said he has observed that the council "has led with love but they've also led with intelligence," and will not make any decision without substantial evidence to support it.

The committee listed after McCollar's April announcement has District 2 Councilmember Paulette Chavers as its chair and Mayor Pro Tem Shari Barr, the council member from District 5, also serving. Olympia Gaines, assistant to the city manager, is the committee's city staff liaison.

But the other seven members are neither city officials nor staff members. Two of them, Peggy Brown from Union Mission and Yvonne Pryor of Inner City Night Shelter, are from nonprofit organizations that operate homeless shelters in Savannah and have offered support for efforts here. Two others, Chad Reinbold from Bags of Faith and Delia Mobley from Open Hearts Community Mission, represent Bulloch County charitable organizations that assist people experiencing homelessness, with Open Hearts operating a 30-bed shelter which is in Statesboro, but not downtown.

The three other named committee members are Monifa Johnson from the Statesboro Housing Authority, Keith Wilkey from Bulloch County Schools and Emergency Management Agency Director Corey Kemp from the county government.

Councilwoman Chavers, who is to chair the committee, was away Tuesday because of an injury from a fall, the mayor said. "So we're going to wait for her to get back into the game," he said after the meeting, suggesting he may delay the start of the 120 days.

Rental assistance

In another matter having to do with housing assistance, the council approved a proposal from City Manager Charles Penny to reassign money left in an account previously used to assist people with utility bills to help some with their rent.

From the $1.7 million Statesboro received in special pandemic-era federal funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES, the city about two years ago set aside $62,000 to help Statesboro residents with water, power or natural gas bills. The city had Action Pact, the community services contractor company that also operates the Bulloch County Senior Center, to administer the program. Last week Penny received an email from someone at Action Pact asking if city officials "would be interested in allowing some of those funds to go to rental assistance," he said.

About $15,000 is left, Penny said, and recommended this be used, at least in part, for rental assistance, with a $250 per household amount mentioned.

"There are a lot of folks that have fallen on hard times and need assistance," he said.

Action Pact will also administer these funds.

Council's vote to approve was 4-0, on a motion by Barr seconded by District 1 Councilmember Tangie Reese Johnson.