THOUSANDS apply for rental assistance in Dallas

Thousands line up in Red Bird to apply for Dallas County rent-assistance vouchers

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20110713-thousands-line-up-in-red-bird-to-apply-for-dallas-county-rent-assistance-vouchers.ece

Residents got a rare — and brief — chance to apply for rental assistance from Dallas County today.

The county is accepting applications for the hard-to-get vouchers this morning 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.

“Based on the economy and what people are going through, you can expect a large number of people,” said Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.

Sure enough, thousands of people lined up early Thursday, some of them camping out overnight, at the Jesse Owens Memorial Complex in the Red Bird area of Dallas.(For the record, 21,000 applied in May)



They will narrow it down to 5,000 people. The people may have to wait up to TWO years to get their voucher.
Welcome to Texas,y'all.

for assistance that is needed right now. Unimaginable.

It's my understanding that it takes at least two years to qualify for disability after you've applied, assuming they'll grant it at some point in the future.