Note: If you view the chart on the left you will notice that we are going to Real Estate prices of the 70's. The line-up for government housing will probably be 10 times the number indicated below, in the future.
FORT LAUDERDALE - Thousands of people seeking government-subsidized housing packed the street Saturday morning in front of the Robert P. Kelly Housing Authority building until police shut down the line because the crowd had grown unmanageable.
Officials estimated that 4,500 people were waiting in line at 8 a.m. when the Housing Authority of Fort Lauderdale began distributing the 3,000 available applications for Section 8 housing, a federal program that provides rent subsidies to landlords to help low-income people find affordable housing.
But the application process was shut down earlier than expected because of the overwhelming turnout, police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sousa said.
"It was a much larger crowd than anticipated," he said, adding he was unsure if all the applications had been distributed.
Though the crowd grew unruly, only one person was arrested for trespassing, Sousa said. He had no details.
Outside the Housing Authority building at Sunrise Boulevard and Northwest Fifth Avenue, discarded blankets, fast-food containers and plastic chairs littered the curb where thousands had gathered.
Carmen Garcia arrived too late to get an application. "It's really unfortunate. Times are really hard right now, and this could have helped out," she said.
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Uhm this one is a tad hysterical to my ears.
ReplyDeleteI live near there and while some of the crowd of 4500 where turned away it wasn't like they where rioting or anything. They had 3000 applications to hand out, and I think the sun-sentinal said they handed out about 2000 of them before they closed down the operation.
However, it does show how hard things are getting when 4500 people show up looking for section 8 applications of which there are only 3000 available.