30,000 Line Up for Free Handouts, and Things Get Ugly

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Housing crisis reaches full boil in East Point; 62 injured

Thirty thousand people turned out in East Point on Wednesday seeking applications for government-subsidized housing, and their confusion and frustration, combined with the summer heat, led to a chaotic mob scene that left 62 people injured.

At the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center, emergency vehicles passed each other, transporting 20 people to hospitals. Medical and police command posts were set up on scene. East Point police wore riot gear. Officers from four other agencies supported them. Yet no arrests were made.

All of this resulted from people attempting to obtain Section 8 housing applications and, against long odds, later securing vouchers for affordable residences. Some waited in line for two days for the applications.

“It was terrible,” Thaddeus Brookins said. “Lot of people. People pushing people, knocking people over. People getting hurt.”

Wednesday's deluge of people seeking low-income vouchers in East Point demonstrated just how desperate the need for affordable housing has become in metro Atlanta, officials said. Some 15,000 Georgians currently are accommodated with Section 8 housing, with thousands more on waiting lists. Housing openings have been difficult to find anywhere, including rural areas.

"East Point, to me, is indicative of the problem," said Dennis Williams, a Georgia Department of Community affairs assistant commissioner. "It just goes to show you the situation is pretty dire."

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/housing-crisis-reaches-full-589653.html

[FaithfulandTrue 6]

Aw man, not Georgia... i wanted to move there .. that is soooo sad that it is coming to that there

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Just wait until they run out of government cheese.

Edited August 12, 2010 by John Galt