WAITING FOR HOUSING* 1,477 people are on the waiting list for low income public housing.* 5,000 people have submitted applications and are waiting to participate in the housing choice voucher program.* Fewer than 50 are waiting to get into one of CHA’s 535 units designated for elderly housing.* 4,094 people experience homelessness in the Chattanooga region.Source: CHA
Wanda Coleman has been living out of town and sleeping at Chattanooga missions off and on for two years while waiting for public housing in Chattanooga to come available.
“It’s terrible,” said the 39-year-old mother of three who has been sleeping for the past week at the Chattanooga Rescue Mission.
Her children, ages 7, 9 and 15, are all in state custody after a family member accused her of hitting the 9-year-old in the forehead and leaving a scar. Coleman insists the girl fell and is going to court in hopes of proving her side of the story.
Coleman is among nearly 1,480 people who are on the waiting list for public housing this year, and another 5,000 people are waiting to receive a Housing Choice Voucher, according to the Chattanooga Housing Authority‘s 2012 Five-Year Agency plan that was approved at the housing authority’s monthly meeting Tuesday.