HUD Rethink How It Distributes Vouchers, Warns Of Fraud: The week after the crush of 30,000 people in need of housing assistance vouchers overloaded Center Atlanta shopping mall, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development urged institutions nationwide to learn from this incident.HUD is reviewing its policy regarding the distribution of vouchers and advises civil servants housing at the national level to do a better job of preparing for large-than-expected crowds.
Meanwhile, Atlanta office of HUD said Friday it had received "a few" reports of crooks trying to sell fake tickets home, after the recognition of the desperate need for them.
"Individuals and families should be alert to this scam, and to ensure that they do not pay for these fraudulent housing vouchers," said Edward Jennings, director of the Southeast region in the HUD. Witnesses illegal sale of the voucher should call HUD inspector general office to 1-800-347-3735, Jennings said.
More than 60 people were injured near the East Point Housing Authority on 11 August after the agency opened 455 seats in the waiting list for section 8 housing assistance vouchers that the poor and disabled recipients can use to subsidize rent in the private sector.
Photos and video of people pushing and shoving in the hot August heat for receipt of applications was broadcast nationally, putting his face on the economic crisis and affordable housing in the country.
In an interview with Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sandra Enriquez, Assistant Secretary of HUD for public and Indian housing, said that the situation is East Point was unusual, but that the demand for housing assistance, will continue to outstrip supply - especially as long as the economy continues to founder.
"What happened [in the East Point] is actually a sign of the times," she said. "People really need some deeply affordable rental assistance ... and people have it bad."
Enriquez said that her office is encouraging housing authorities of the country to see the chaos of East Point, as a lesson.
HUD is now warning local authorities housing to double or triple their estimates of demand, "she said. He also encouraged officials to make housing more notice voucher-seekers that they should not appear on a specific day or time to the application, as well as more efficient use of the Internet and local human rights organizations of housing to distribute applications.
"There are ways to mitigate against this [type of] crush in the future," said Enriquez.
Currently, about 2.2 million low-income families to participate in Section 8 of the national program - a record. HUD and the Obama administration requested $ 19.6 billion to finance the program in 2011 - an increase of 1.4 billion dollars in 2010.
Critics say that the situation is East Point was an illustration of a bloated government programs have been wrong.
In the libertarian influence Georgia Public Policy Foundation, vice president, Benita Dodd said that the program "perpetuate the vicious circle of poverty, powerlessness and dependence.
Enriquez said that the critics underestimate the consequences of not helping to provide housing for the needy.
"I think people should think about the unintended consequences of homelessness - more spending on health care, instability in the area of education, a greater number of people living on the street," she said.
Changes to Section 8 vouchers are distributed as may help to prevent future incidents like that would happen at East Point - but that does not solve the basic problem of supply and demand, affordable housing advocates say.
Nevertheless, HUD should be welcomed, in close cooperation with local authorities, housing and other measures to better manage the voucher program, said Jim grow, deputy director of the National Housing Law Project, a nonprofit advocacy group in California.
"If HUD can support them by providing technical assistance on how they can do their job better, which has a very positive impact," he said.
"Because there is no housing authority in their right mind wants to have such a fiasco again."
Staff writers Dan Raley, Craig Schneider, Christopher Quinn and Ernie Suggs contributed to this article.
