Thread: 30,000 line up for housing vouchers, some get rowdy

Just how many illegals are living in secton 8 housing?


30,000 line up for housing vouchers, some get rowdy
By Mike Morris and Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thirty thousand people showed up to receive Section 8 housing applications in East Point Wednesday, suffering through hours in the hot sun, angry flare-ups in the crowd and lots of frustration and confusion for a chance to receive a government-subsidized apartment.

Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com Crowds swarm at Tri-Cities Plaza in East Point on Wednesday morning as people try to apply for Section 8 housing.


Enlarge photo Mike Morris/AJC, Mike Morris/AJC Crowds line up for housing vouchers in East Point on Wednesday morning.

The massive event sometimes descended into a chaotic mob scene filled with anger and impatience. Some 62 people needed medical attention and 20 of them were transported to a hospital, authorities said. A baby went into a seizure in the heat and was stabilized at a hospital. People were removed on stretchers and when a throng of people who had been waiting hours in a line were told to move to another line, people started pushing, shoving and cursing, witnesses said.

Still, officials of East Point declared the day a success. Nobody was arrested and nobody was seriously injured, they said. It was an assessment roundly challenged by many of the people who had to go through it.

Kim Lemish, executive director of the East Point Housing Authority, said the event marked the first time the city has offered Section 8 housing applications since 2002. The waiting list that lasted eight years had depleted, she said, and the agency was beginning a new one. So people braved all the physical difficulties just to get on a waiting list that could keep them waiting for years.

Lemish said the agency had expected about 10,000 people but three times as many showed up. Many were just accompanying those looking for an application. Some 13,000 applications were handed out.

Concern is rising that a similar scene could occur Thursday when the housing authority of this small city begins accepting the completed applications. Wednesday's event was only to hand out the paperwork. The housing authority will begin accepting applications at 9 a.m.

Some of the crowd waited for two days at the Tri-Cities Plaza shopping center. As the temperature rose Wednesday, people fell ill.

Sgt. Cliff Chandler, spokesman for the East Point Police Department, said a toddler was treated earlier in the morning for "some type of seizure," Chandler said.

"A lot of it was heat and some was health-related issues" such people not taking their medications, Chandler said.

By the time everyone had left around 2 p.m., the temperature had climbed into the low 90s.

East Point police, some wearing riot helmets, were patrolling the area. Firefighters and EMTs were attending to people who were overheating in the sun. Police from College Park, Hapeville, Fulton County and MARTA assisted in crowd control.

Chandler said there were no arrests.

Felecia McGhee told the AJC she arrived around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. She said the major problem began when people started breaking into the line and then officials handing out applications started moving those areas and those line breakers. She said she saw at least two small children trampled when the crowd rushed the building where the applications were to be handed out.

"It's a real mess out here," she said.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Mike Petchenik said fights were breaking out and police had to stop people who were storming the door.

Channel 2 reporter Tom Jones said, “There are thousands, I mean, thousands of people here. I’ve seen people fall out from the heat.â€

Section 8 housing,what a sweetheart deal.When i bought my small income property a while back one of my tenants was on Section 8,the rent was
Twelve Hundred and Fifty bucks.Guess what her portion of the rent was,
roughly Three hundred and Fifty Bucks,the government paid Nine Hundred! Talk about the ''Life of Riley'',throw in some food stamps and other assorted goodies paid for by the Chumps,i mean taxpayers and you have an idea why 30,000 have nots showed up for this giveaway!

Yeah, deal drugs and get section 8 and generally not pay taxes. Kinda like being illegal.

Socialism works until you run out of other people's money. What? You think we have another couple of years?