Queue for Housing Turns Ugly

A sometimes unruly crowd of more than 2,500 people gathered Monday at Burbank City Hall to apply for 25 vacancies on a low-income housing list and had to be dispersed by police worried that children, the elderly and disabled would be injured in the shoving.

The incident illustrates “the very severe need” for more low-cost housing in the city and county, said Burbank Mayor George Battey.

Monday marked the first time in four years that the Burbank Housing Authority has accepted applications for Section 8 status under a federal rental assistance program that provides subsidies for low-income tenants.

Officials decided to open the application process after the federal government recently authorized 25 additional recipients. Those who qualify for the program receive vouchers they can turn over to property owners, who turn them back to the government for cash. The vouchers are scaled to keep the recipients’ rent expenses from exceeding 30% of their income.

“We had to create a new waiting list because we’ve exhausted the old one,” said Burbank Housing Administrator Linda Simmons.

Published in local media and posted at City Hall, the announcement that the city would begin accepting applications drew people from Burbank, Glendale and throughout the county.

Although the office was not scheduled to begin handing out applications until 7 a.m. Monday, some began gathering as early as midnight in a walkway behind City Hall.

“We anticipated that we would have several hundred applicants,” said Lt. Robert Giles of the Burbank Police Department. “At 5 in the morning we found over a thousand applicants waiting.”

Huddled in blankets and resting in lawn chairs, the applicants organized themselves, scribbling numbers on scraps of papers and on the palms of their hands to indicate their places in line. Others began circulating a sign-up sheet to those in the growing crowd.

But many in the line mistakenly believed the numbers and sign-up sheet were circulated by City Hall officials.

“It was something done by the people in line very unofficially,” Giles said. “We told them we didn’t necessarily adhere to those numbers.”

Carolyn De Windt of Burbank arrived at 6 a.m. and saw an opportunity in an otherwise dismal situation.

“I went home and made hot dogs and sold them,” she said. “I sold out.”

But by 10:30 a.m. the line was a quarter of a mile long and extended down San Fernando Road, Giles said. Concerned that the crowd was too large, police began handing out applications to those at the back of the line that would have to be mailed in rather than filled out on the spot. Those in the front were still to be allowed to turn in their applications that morning.

That was when the real problem began, police said.

“It became a giant pushing match,” Giles said. “The danger became obvious at that point. There were handicapped, elderly people and children who were being pushed around in the middle of the crowd.”

Language barriers complicated matters, Giles said. Many in the crowd were Armenian speakers who may not have understood police directions, he said.

At that point police decided to disperse the crowd.

Paramedics were called for one pregnant woman who was pushed against a wall in the confusion, but there were no serious injuries, Giles said.

Simmons said those who did not receive applications should “call us up and we’ll mail the applications out and they can send it by mail.”

Many who had waited in line for hours were clearly angered by the city’s decision to stop accepting applications.

“We were here since 6 a.m. and we can’t get an application,” said Astgik Tanashyan, who has lived in Burbank for four years. “I think it’s bad organization.”

“I personally don’t have a phone,” said Donna Maspero. “I can’t call them. I stood in line to get an application and now they’re telling me I can’t get one. . . . I think they should totally throw out today and start over.”

City officials pointed to the economy and the scarcity of housing throughout the county as a reason for the overwhelming response. When Section 8 applications were last taken during January, 1990, about 1,100 people applied during a two-week period.

“The economy is worse than it was four years ago,” Simmons said. “With cuts in AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) and different programs, people are struggling. You can see that the need for affordable housing in Los Angeles is very prevalent.”

By Monday afternoon, signs were posted on the doors of several offices at City Hall declaring that no more applications would be accepted. Still, knots of people stood in the corridors outside the housing authority office, expressing disbelief.

Katharine Nickolson, who arrived after the disorder ended, stood calmly writing down the housing authority’s phone number.

“I’ve been trying for five years to get on Section 8,” she said. “My income is fixed and my son and I need a place where we don’t have to pay all of our money in rent.”