NORFOLK, Va. — The Norfolk Redeveloping & Housing Authority (NRHA) canceled a Thursday event to get people housing in the Young Terrace area, following overwhelming demand at an earlier event.
In a statement provided to 13News Now, NRHA wrote that it was "astounded by and unprepared for the size of the crowd that showed up" to its "Lease Up" event that was held on Tuesday.
According to the housing authority's website, the event was advertised as "an opportunity to apply for public housing and get qualified on the spot." People were asked to bring IDs, birth certificates, social security cards, and proof of income amongst other documentation.
NRHA had said qualified applicants may be able to move in within five to 20 days.
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"The waitlist for NRHA’s public housing program has been open for several years," the housing authority wrote in its statement. "During this period, we’ve never had the kind of influx of applications as we had [Tuesday]."
NRHA added that more than 30 staff were assigned to help with the event and more were called as the morning progressed.
"When we realized that we would not be able to provide the service we intended, we immediately began messaging on social media and with flyers passed out to the crowd that both [Tuesday's] 1 p.m. event and the Thursday event are canceled," the NRHA said.
According to the housing authority, all applications received on Tuesday will be processed, and applicants will be contacted and advised of their status. In a social media post, NRHA said no future "Lease Up" events are scheduled.
Dozens of people took to social media to express their disappointment at NRHA's handling of the "Lease Up" events.
"People caught Ubers, people took off work, people were out there on oxygen, this is unacceptable," one person commented on an NRHA Facebook post.
"Apology not accepted this was wrong," another wrote.
The housing authority acknowledged that the events were promoted solely on social media.
"What we’ve learned from this is how powerful a messaging platform this is," the NRHA said in its statement. "In [the] future, we will format events to draw appropriately sized groups."
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