Riot Breaks Out At Housing Assistance Event In Metro Detroit

CBS Detroit ^ | Jan 12, 2013

[Iron Munro]

An event designed to help assist Michigan families with housing expenses turned into a chaotic scene after there was a mad rush to collect Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers.

The incident happened Saturday morning at the Wayne County Family Health Services Center on Eureka Road, between Beech Daly and Inkster roads in Taylor — where thousands of people were waiting to get housing vouchers, many who had been waiting outside in the cold since the night before.

Reports say the amount of people who showed up looking for assistance heavily outweighed the number of vouchers to be distributed. As the night was fading away and the sun started to shine, the crowd continued to grow as more and more people arrived. According to reports, only 1,000 vouchers were available for distribution. An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people were in attendance.

When it came time for the vouchers to be distributed, police said there was a mad rush for the door, with people jockeying for position to be the first inside the building. Officers tried to control the crowd, but couldn’t. Fearing the situation was more than they could handle, event organizers shut the entire thing down and turned off the lights inside the building. Witnesses say that’s when things really got ugly.

Star Lee, of Romulus, described the scene as complete chaos.

“People just don’t have order to themselves, you know what I mean? People were fighting and throwing chairs, and that’s just not necessary. We were asked to just come and line up and, you know, make things simple. They shut it down before it even got started and it’s just sad because some people really needed this help, this assistance,” she said.

Candice Wacasey, of Taylor, said she was frightened. Garbage litters the ground at a human services building in Taylor where thousands of people rioted when a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher distribution event was cancelled. (WWJ Photo/Beth Fisher)

Garbage litters the ground at a human services building in Taylor where thousands of people rioted when a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher distribution event was cancelled. (WWJ Photo/Beth Fisher)

“When the lights went out, it went horrible. People started trampling over people, there was a disabled lady that was in a wheelchair and they was trying to knock her over to get in front of her. I mean, just crazy,” she said.

Lenny Syer, of Melvindale, said some people lost all inhibitions, even muscling small children out-of-the-way.

“There was people who was physically putting their hands on people’s childs (sic) and moving them. It was unbelievable,” he said.

Additional help was called in from Michigan State Police, who helped Taylor police control the melee and disperse the crowd. Four people were arrested, but police say no one was injured.

Police say the event will be rescheduled, although specific details still need to be worked out.

“Due to the high demand of the Section 8 vouchers, we will meet with HUD Representatives to discuss the series of events, re-evaluate the distribution method and implement a process that ensures a greater level of efficiency and safety,” Mary Radamacher, Director of the Taylor Housing Commission, said in a statement.

Some of those in attendance Saturday said they hope organizers will be extra cautious and bring in additional security to insure things go differently next time.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is the federal government’s major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled to afford decent, safe and sanitary housing in the private market. A housing subsidy is paid to the landlord directly by the government on behalf of the participating family, which then pays the difference between the actual rent charged by the landlord and the amount subsidized by the program.

The maximum housing assistance is generally the lesser of the payment standard minus 30 percent of the family’s monthly adjusted income, or the gross rent for the unit minus 30 percent of monthly adjusted income, according to HUD.

[L,TOWM]

Just because somebody is living in a crappy neighborhood, does not mean that they do not work and pay for their own stuff. I lived in some pretty sketchy neighborhoods in my younger days.

[Chode]

you said "To be fair, about 70% of african-americans in the US are in the middle class (or better)"

middle class or better do NOT live in a "crappy neighborhood", a better neighborhood is the definition of Middle Class not simply above the poverty line and paying your bills... that's more like blue collar

according to wikipedia,

Within capitalism, middle class initially referred to the bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie. However, with the immiserisation and proletarianisation of much of the petit bourgeois world, and the growth of finance capitalism, middle class came to refer to the combination of labour aristocracy, professionals and white collar workers.

[publius911]

Stereotypes suck, they aren’t always accurate, and we conservatives should be better then that.

What an infantile thought process!

Stereotypes exist based on numbers, nothing else.
That you have found one non-black family out of fifty, does not invalidate what everyone's eyes confirm.
Doesn't lack of video for these events confirm the obvious? How about the lack of statistical information to prevent absolute validation of the your hated "stereotype?"

[hoagy62]

Okay...I can see your point. I’ll give you that.

Let’s go at this from another angle. How many members of Free Republic do you think get Section 8 vouchers? (Note: The number may be higher than you think.)

[Lancey Howard]

yes...they’ll come....the feral yutes will steal cars, come out to have fun and cruising the countryside and when a homeowner has to face down these animals, he better be prepared....several of them coming at you is going to be scary.....

LOL!
I'm in rural Pennsylvania. If the situation you describe actually came to pass in my "neighborhood" - - highly unlikely, in my opinion - - their bodies would never be found. Trust me on that.

[Windcatcher]

I’ve been wondering for a while how many times there has been a nighttime drive up 322...

[Darren McCarty]

Taylor? I wonder how many came from Romulus or Inkster nearby.

[greeneyes]

That doesn’t happen here. No vouchers are handed out like that. People call in, get applications, fill them out and turn them in. The names go on a list.

When something’s available, the recipient is contacted and everything is then set up as to pick up or moving into an apartment.

[ronnie raygun]

Testing testing, planned or not they are gathering the results of this event and all are happy. With just a little push they can create mass hysteria and a stampede. Look at the Walmart holiday stampedes, the sneeker stampede. This is not a sustanance issue, one can only imagine when it comes down to food. Trial run is a success

[Chief901]

The takers just can’t get enough free-stuff....but Obama keeps rationing the amount, so the takers are so mistreated /s

[jughandle]

Moral decay, trained to grab what they deserve. Just a counter to this story, here in NJ after the storm and widespread power outage, we stood on a line in hopes of buying a generator. Lots of people there from all over and we all knew there were nowhere near enough generators for everyone. No riots, no shoving, no line cutting, no foul-mouthing....we all joked around, shared stories, ( ok at the end of the line we joked about who we will jump in the parking lot for their generator) one fellow even went out and brought back a few containers of coffee.
NO RIOTING NECESSARY!!!

[trebb]

Let’s analyze this. uring this game show, 25% or so of the contestants hit the jackpot, but it wasn’t 100% so a riot was in order. Wait until they find out how unbalanced the numbers are with the Lottery...If all those losers were to riot, it could make a really loud noise.

[L,TOWM]

OK, so we have a disagreement in defintions then. Fair enough. When I grew up, auto mechanics, welders, carpenters, factory workers, and clerks were all middle class persons. May be lower middle class, but middle class nonetheless.

May original post was to point out that comments on this thread which seemed paint ALL or TOO MANY african americans in this nation with a broad brush of government dependency and aberrant behavior are not completely accurate.

[Chode]

i'll agree to that...

[Nailbiter]

.