Thousands Line Up For Housing Vouchers In Dallas, Prompting ‘Stampede’
Jul 14, 2011 1 Comment ›› Angelia
Several Dallas residents seeking hard-to-get Section 8 rental assistance vouchers suffered bumps and bruises Thursday in the pre-dawn rush to line up at a Red Bird football stadium.
Thousands of people lined up early Thursday, some of them camping out overnight, at the Jesse Owens Memorial Complex in southwest Dallas. Many had been there since Wednesday night.
About 6 a.m., when applicants who had been told to wait in the parking lot were allowed to line up, there was a rush to the building.
“Once they said we could go on the property, it was a stampede, a circus,” said Adelia Frierson, a 24-year-old woman in line seeking assistance.
Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said three rescue units were sent to treat the injured, none of whom was hospitalized.
“Several people were trampled during the rush to be the first in line,” he said in a written release.
By dawn, more than 5,000 people were in a line that wrapped around the football stadium at the sports complex Thursday morning, said Zachary Thompson, the county’s director of health and human services.
Thompson said no one was seriously injured and that reports of people being trampled were overblown.
Several Dallas County sheriff’s deputies restored order after the 6 a.m. rush, and Dallas-Fire Rescue paramedics were on hand in case of heat-related problems.
The county is accepting applications for the vouchers for the first time in five years. But applicants may have to wait at least two years to actually get the federally funded Housing Choice Vouchers, also called Section 8.
County officials were to begin accepting applications at 8 a.m. but started early for the many residents who got there before dawn.
Daisy Emerson, 20, was among the first to apply after arriving at 4 a.m. to find what she estimated to be 3,000 people already in line.
“It didn’t matter who got here first,” she said. “People who came yesterday shouldn’t have even wasted their time.”
Connie White, 61, arrived about 11:30 p.m. but lost her place when the line moved, hampered by a bad back and knee problems.
“I need all the help I can get,” she said of the assistance the vouchers would provide.
The vouchers, which pay a portion of the rent based on household income, are in high demand. Most agencies that provide them have such long waiting lists that they have not accepted new applicants for years.
Other recent opportunities to apply for the help drew thousands of applicants, and fire officials were expecting 15,000 today.
Applicants must go to the Red Bird stadium.
Thompson said the county decided not to use an online system because many people in need do not have access to computers and because of software problems experienced by the Dallas Housing Authority.
The DHA had to redo its application process after a software glitch caused the agency to temporarily lose applications.
