Business leaders from across Georgia met Wednesday in Savannah for the annual Georgia Logistics Summit, where Gov. Brian Kemp called for more housing to accommodate the influx of workers filling jobs at new manufacturing and warehouse facilities.

Originally posted by Benjamin Payne on GPB.org

“[The people] that are working at our ports and in our factories should be able to live in our communities as well,” Kemp told a sold-out crowd at the Savannah Convention Center.

The greater Savannah area is projected to see explosive growth in the near future, as the largest economic development project in Georgia history — the Hyundai electric vehicle plant in Bryan County — is slated to become fully operational in 2025, and as the already-bustling Port of Savannah undergoes expansion.

By 2045, the population of a four-county region in and around Savannah — comprised of Chatham, Bryan, Effingham and Bulloch counties — is projected to grow by 34%, according to a study by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Georgia Southern University economics professor Michael Toma also spoke at the event, and called the Savannah area “the hottest market in the logistics industry right now.”

Kemp noted that the majority of economic investment he’s seen since taking office has been outside metro Atlanta. To that end, his proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year calls for a $35.7 million Rural Workforce Housing Fund to help local governments boost their housing stock.