AdamT
08-11-2010, 12:23 PM
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=149849&catid=40
http://www.11alive.com/genthumb/genthumb.ashx?e=3&h=240&w=320&i=/assetpool/images/100811010526_sec82.jpghttp://www.11alive.com/genthumb/genthumb.ashx?e=3&h=240&w=320&i=/assetpool/images/100811110741_sec8.jpg
EAST POINT, GA -- A huge crowd of people trying to meet a deadline to get an application for public housing flooded a facility in East Point Wednesday.
The crowd began with just a few hundred people gathering around noon Monday at the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center.
By Wednesday morning, it had easily swelled to thousands.
Many in the crowd could be seen running toward police vehicles.
Thousands more were gathered around the front of the plaza, and many were just waiting in long lines.
"We have a lot of homeless families, a lot of families who are unemployed and it creates a desperate situation, which is what out agency was created to assist with," said Kim Lemish, the executive director of East Point Housing Authority.
RELATED: DULUTH COUPLE SPARKS STANDOFF REFUSING TO LEAVE FORECLOSED HOME
Right now East Point's nearly 200 public housing units are full and more than 400 Section 8 vouchers for help with private housing rent are also being used.
So the chance of anyone getting housing immediately is slim.
The last time East Point opened its waiting list was in 2002 when more than 2,000 people signed up.
http://www.11alive.com/genthumb/genthumb.ashx?e=3&h=240&w=320&i=/assetpool/images/100811010526_sec82.jpghttp://www.11alive.com/genthumb/genthumb.ashx?e=3&h=240&w=320&i=/assetpool/images/100811110741_sec8.jpg
EAST POINT, GA -- A huge crowd of people trying to meet a deadline to get an application for public housing flooded a facility in East Point Wednesday.
The crowd began with just a few hundred people gathering around noon Monday at the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center.
By Wednesday morning, it had easily swelled to thousands.
Many in the crowd could be seen running toward police vehicles.
Thousands more were gathered around the front of the plaza, and many were just waiting in long lines.
"We have a lot of homeless families, a lot of families who are unemployed and it creates a desperate situation, which is what out agency was created to assist with," said Kim Lemish, the executive director of East Point Housing Authority.
RELATED: DULUTH COUPLE SPARKS STANDOFF REFUSING TO LEAVE FORECLOSED HOME
Right now East Point's nearly 200 public housing units are full and more than 400 Section 8 vouchers for help with private housing rent are also being used.
So the chance of anyone getting housing immediately is slim.
The last time East Point opened its waiting list was in 2002 when more than 2,000 people signed up.