HOUSING AUTHORITY WORRIED ABOUT DRUG GRANTS ENDING

Police Say They're Prepared For Fund Cut

Decatur Housing Authority could lose $175,000 or more in federal assistance
to keep drugs out of its neighborhoods, but police say they're prepared for
the shortfall.

President Bush proposed cutting an estimated $1.3 billion in 2002 from
Department of Housing and Urban Development programs.

That includes scrapping the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, which
steered $2.29 million to Decatur since the president's father started the
program in 1989.

"This could hurt us," said Bob Neill, DHA director. "I feel that the Drug
Elimination Program has definitely made our neighborhoods safer by having
the presence of the (Decatur police) Street Hawks and providing activities
for the children."

Before the program, several public housing units, particularly Sterrs
Homes, had chronic problems with drug dealers. Some apartments became crack
cocaine houses.

"I'm afraid that if they eliminate the funds, we could possibly have the
same thing occur again," Neill said.

The Bush administration wants to eliminate the program because it thinks
the program is failing and it's time to try something else.

The president supports replacing some of these programs with faith-based
programs and proposes HUD be at the forefront of the change.

Drug-Elimination Dollars

DHA received its first drug-elimination dollars in 1990. Most of the local
money went to the Police Department and the Boys and Girls Club of Morgan
County.

Decatur police used the money to start the Street Hawks, which consists of
five officers and one sergeant assigned to do extra patrols of public
housing neighborhoods.

The money helps buy equipment, including vehicles, and supplement payrolls.

Lt. John Bradford, public information officer, said the Street Hawks was
one of the best programs the department implemented, but it's not in
jeopardy if the Drug Elimination Program stops. The department prepares its
budget as if there were no grant, he said.

"These type of grants, it's not sound to depend on them because you never
know from one year to the next if you're going to get it.

"We do not foresee it having an adverse affect as far as laying off
officers or cutting back on programs," he said.

The authority received $175,000 in 2000. Of that, $75,000 went to Decatur
police, $95,000 went to Boys and Girls Club and $5,000 to the Decatur Board
of Education and DHA youth sports programs.

"It's a big 'if' if it gets passed," Mike Anderson, director of the Boys
and Girls Club, said of the president's budget. "I think it's going to
receive a lot of opposition on the Senate side. But it would affect us
tremendously."

Boys And Girls Club

The Boys and Girls Club used the money to open two clubs on Beech Street
Southeast and Sixth Street Northwest.

DHA provides the facilities and the club furnishes the staff.

Whether some club activities would end if the federal funds stop, Anderson
said it's too early to tell.

"It's still quite a ways down the road. Right now, I couldn't speak on what
my board might do. We deal heavily with grants, and I know in the past when
something like this has occurred, my board has stepped up and said we're
going to continue service to the kids," he said.

Neill said three professional organizations -- the National Association of
Housing and Redevelopment Officials, National Public Housing Directors
Association and the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities -- will
lobby Congress and the president to prevent any cuts to the program.