Feb 21, 2009 7:27 pm US/Eastern
A Thousand-Plus Wait For Broward Subsidized Units
Hundreds Were Turned Away After All Applications Were Handed Out
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
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People waiting for low-income housing applications at Ft. Lauderdale's housing authority.
CBS
Thousands of South Florida families need an affordable place to live. Several got their chance Friday night and Saturday morning; more than five thousand people stood in line in Fort Lauderdale to get an application to qualify for Section 8 housing.
The dip in degrees did not stop mothers, fathers and grandparents from camping out overnight at the housing office off Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.
"I am a single mom with two kids living in my car right now," said Dawn Silberberg to CBS4's Jorge Estevez, as she stood in line since the day before. Silberberg was among the crowd of people; all had stories of hardships. She was one of the first in line. "I never imagined this, but this is what happens when your family turns their back on you," said Silberberg.
But while Silberberg and about 2,500 other people managed to get an application, others felt the process was unfair. The public notice urged people not to head to the offices until 7:00 Saturday morning to avoid creating a large crowd overnight. While some listened, hundreds did not and once the morning crowd arrived, many were left outside the barriers because the line had already formed overnight.
"Everybody who followed the rules is being penalized. We want to be eligible," said Betty Little, who was wheelchair-bound and outside the barrier.
Estevez asked the Housing Authority about the request to have people not come overnight. "The problem we have is that they come here before seven a.m. The police department let them stand in the neighborhood. We can't control that," responded Tam English, director of Housing for the Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority, who encouraged people to stay away from the property.
The Housing Authority was supposed to hand out three thousand applications for the lottery system but instead only gave out just over 2,500. Police say they dispersed the crowds, who toward the end of the process were no longer in line; they say handing out few applications to hundreds of people huddled together would have been chaotic.
However, it didn't affect Silberberg, who got her application and couldn't wait to send it off. "I am filling it out right now when I sit in my car. I am dropping it off at the Post Office right now. I don't have time to wait," said Silberberg, who still may have to wait up to three years to get a home.
For more information on Section 8 housing, including who qualifies for assistance,
click here.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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