Oregon Public Broadcasting

Tens of thousands of people showed up last week at the East Point Housing Authority in an Atlanta, Georgia suburb. They wanted to get on a public housing waiting list that had opened up for the first time in years. More than 60 people were injured in the crush. Reporter Amelia Templeton talked with two Oregon public housing officials about the local demand for Section 8 housing.

The Housing Authority of Washington County has about 3,000 units of public housing available. Most of that is in the form of federal Section 8 housing vouchers.

Low-income families can use the vouchers in many private apartment complexes. They pay a portion of the rent, based on their income. The Housing Authority picks up the rest.

Val Valfre directs the Housing Authority of Washington County. He says most participants are able to make at least some contribution.

Val Valfre: "We don't have very many that don't have any income. But there's a lot that are getting by on $10,000 a year or $12,000 a year. Not enough for them to really rent anything in the private market."

Valfre says two years ago, when the recession started, 2,800 people were on the wait list to get into public housing in Washington County. Now that list has doubled.

Val Valfre: "I don't see it getting shorter in the next two years probably. I think it's going to take that long for the economy to come back. And I'm hoping it will. I'm betting it will."

And Valfre says its normal for people on the list to stay there for three or four years at a time. Lots of people move away before they qualify for a voucher.

Val Valfre: "Our public housing is about 99 percent full, which means there's no movement on the list."

Jill Fields is with the Lane County Housing Agency. Fields says five years ago their waiting list grew to more than 6,000 people. So the agency closed the list.

Last year they opened it up again for a few hours using an online application.

Jill Fields: "We told the web host that we were going to be opening the list, he said no problem. However it brought the website to its knees because he said there were about 10,000 hits for 1,000 slots. So that tells you something about the need for affordable housing. "

The federal government has made some additional housing vouchers available during the recession. Many are for veterans or other specific populations.

Valfre of Washington County says he's applied for 200 new vouchers for disabled families. But Valfre says he's had relatively little luck getting additional vouchers in the past.