Stampede for section 8 vouchers in Dallas

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Woman-Trampled-in-Rush-for-Housing-Vouchers-125560743.html

Pathetic.

 

"The vouchers provide up to $1,000 each month to put toward rent for low-income families."

No wonder. That free money would rent some nice places in Philly, believe me.

Just seems a bit unfair that people who work their ass off have to scrounge for their rent with no vouchers handed to them.

 

I saw this on CNN just now. This sort of reminds me of the Jonestown Massacre.

 

You mean the lines, as in suicide lines?

I was thinking more 'flash mob" in the start of the story. That poor old lady being run down.

 

The horrendous stampeding! I take that back...

Think of the Run with the Bulls from Spain! That's what it sounds like.

 

I know I put a lot down on my house when I bought it, and that I have a really good rate but seriously? $1,000/mo is more than my mortgage, interest, homeowner's insurance and property taxes combined.

Edited to add: My house is in a firmly middle class neighborhood, on about 1/4 acre, is a 3 br 2.5 bath fireplaced, two decks and mountain views. It's not like I'm living in a cardboard box.

 

Maybe the dissemination of these vouchers should have been handled in a different way, but if vouchers aren't guaranteed and getting one is not first come first serve, what was the point of the massive line at 5:30 am in front of the building before it opened?

But then at the bottom I see: Pre-applications were accepted at the Ellis Davis Field House at the Jessie Owens Memorial Complex on 9191 S. Polk St. between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Thursday only.

:smt017 Maybe if thousands of people are applying for something, they should have more than a window of a few hours in a week to do so.

 

They only offer them every 5 years? Then if you get your name in you get an interview and the you wait two years to see if you get the assistance. That program sounds screwed up.

If they can make people wait outside in this heat a whole day and not find an air conditioned gym, and live with themselves then more power to them. They sound like they are trying to torture the people who need help. The older people can't take that.

 

Being that I am not only a progressive interested in economic justice, but that I am also a HUGE cynic, I cannot help speculating that this is intentional. Considering the economic problems so many are having, they could not have been unaware that the announcement of this program along with the compressed time window had the potential to create a mob scene. Which the media can then play up as "look how ill-behaved poor people are! Tsk, tsk, no wonder they're poor."

 

I know sometimes these programs operate with minimal staff, but you can't tell me every fifth year this voucher process happens they can't gather enough staff/volunteers to ensure that people have more than nine hours in one week day to apply at one building. Does this "pre application" process even require that people have to be physically present?

"On Thursday, all people did was give their name, phone number and the number of people in their household".

:smt017

 

Exactly, hence my cynicism. If this is a once in five years thing, they could recruit temps, or volunteers...and they could spread the process out over a week or a month even. One day? Sounds like the shopping deals on the day after Thanksgiving to open the Christmas season.

 

I doubt they did all that to "show how bad poor people behave".

The bottom line is these stimulus programs are contingent on how popular they are. This is more likely about HUD funding allocations, which equals to the guarantee justification of local or state workers jobs in said departments that oversee the program. I don't think they give two shits that they only allocated one day in the two-part process, or that applicants might wait in the heat. They figure only that if you build it they will come, and it's $20 million dollar "field"....every year.

Keep in mind, the whole of Dallas County Housing Authority's "ball park" cost to maintain it amounts to $61 million a year.

 

Oh, I don't think they did all of that just to show poor people behaving badly, but this shit doesnt happen in a vacuum...and crap like this isnt a bug, it's a feature.

I'm not being especially articulate today - last of the pain killers the good neurologist prescribed before he moved have made me a tad loopy.

 

:smt056 Oh that's right, the MS. I hope you feel better. Have you ever heard about Bee/honey therapy? My neighbour, a young vibrant Black guy in his prime became afflicted and honestly, Tree, its hit him swifty.
I feel for his struggle immensely.

 

I guess Dallas has "Black Thursday", where it creates the conditions for a "Battle Royal" type scenario to make poor folks look bad in the media. ...I'm not sure how I think of this situation yet; evaluating news is difficult for me. Not trying to excuse anyone who might have been unruly in the crowd, but these are the type of experiences that create such conditioned responses.

 

Exactly.

 

Whatever the intention of Dallas County, the media can makes things look a certain way on their own.

 

Im sure Rush and the like will make it a racial issue

 

I have heard about it, but the daily injections are bad enough without adding bee stings! From the research I've read, MS is much less prevalent in the black community, but it tends to hit hard much faster when it does. Your neighbor has my condolences, it's a bitch of a disease even in a mild form.