In Atlanta, a 30,000-Person Mob Showed Up at a Fed Housing Aid Site

Yesterday in Atlanta, Georgia, 30,000 desperate people mobbed the East Point Housing Authority, at a pre-scheduled sign-up for the waiting list to potentially receive Federal housing aid vouchers (called Section 8). Held at a shopping center, swarms of anxious people succumbed to heat, frustration, and fear, as emergency staff had to move in to create new waiting lines, and attempt crowd management. Twenty people were taken to the hospital, 62 people were injured, including two children trampled upon. Police had to wear riot gear; four neighboring police units had to be called out. However, no arrests were made. Everyone knows that the nation is collapsing and people are desperate.

This week's notice of the chance to sign up for Section 8 vouchers, was the first time applications for housing aid have been offered at this site since 2002. The application is conditional on low-income, which people now qualify for en masse. Some people came two days early to stand in line. Even for those applying, there is no guarantee of getting aid.

In metro-Atlanta, 15,000 people are currently accommodated with Section 8 housing, with thousands more on waiting lists. Most of the 16 Atlanta housing authorities have closed their waiting lists down for Section 8 applicants; one has been closed since September 2008. Even if thousands of vouchers were handed out today, the affordable housing does not exist.

"There's more people demanding units at a lower-income level. The demands coming in from people who are losing their jobs and potentially having to leave their homes whether they move all the way to Section 8 or not, it's going to create demand, " said Jim Skinner, a planner in the research division of the Atlanta Regional Commission. Speaking to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, he said, "That's just the bottom line and that perhaps explains what happened in East Point."