The extent of the
housing crisis and the stark realities of capitalism were on full display Aug.
11 and 12 in East Point, Ga, a few miles southwest of Atlanta. Thirty thousand people,
75 percent of the city’s population, gathered at the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping
Center, where Section 8 voucher applications were to be handed out by the East
Point Housing Authority.
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The EPHA had naively
anticipated a crowd of 10,000, severely underestimating the community’s need
for affordable housing. Unprepared for the volume of applicants, a chaotic
atmosphere ensued as people rushed kiosks set up to hand out voucher
application. “It was horrifying, just chaotic, to be someone who waited
patiently in line, and then all those people coming; I was scared for my life,”
said Candice Dixon, 37 weeks pregnant and the mother of three. Dixon had been
waiting in line for two days in an attempt to ensure herself an application. .
Cynically, Kimberly
Lemish, head of the EPHA, claimed that the event was a success. “We were
able to do what we were set out to do,” she said. “All of the people who wanted
applications got them.
This was said despite
the fact that 62 people were injured, including 20 who required
hospitalization. East Point officials even had the audacity to criticize some
people for bringing their children to the event, mocking those who cannot
afford decent housing for not being able to secure increasingly expensive child
care.
Lemish’s statement was
especially out of touch considering the material situation these workers face
after they handed in their vouchers the following day. They will be placed on
waiting lists so long that they could wait up to 10 years to receive
assistance.
East Point is only one example
of the ongoing crisis occurring across the nation. Under capitalism the
increasing number of homeless people cannot fill the countless empty homes
unless the homes can be sold or rented at a profit. Under socialism housing is
a human right, not a commodity.
