EVICTION POLICIES TOSSED OUT

HUD Can't Boot Drug Bystanders

SAN FRANCISCO - Public housing officials can no longer evict tenants simply
because members of their household or guests illegally used drugs, a
federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The 7-4 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an
eviction policy announced by former President Clinton in 1996.

Under the Department of Housing and Urban Development regulation, tenants
could be evicted if their relatives or guests used drugs or committed other
drug-related crimes, even if the tenants were unaware of the illegal activity.

Housing activists say that thousands of low-income tenants have been booted
nationwide from public housing under the so-called "One Strike and You're
Out" policy.

Although Wednesday's ruling is binding only in the nine Western states
covered by the 9th Circuit, tenant advocates predicted it would shape how
courts elsewhere rule on the policy.

"This will have a substantial impact nationwide," said Catherine Bishop, a
staff attorney for the National Housing Law Project. "And hopefully,
housing authorities will wake up and realize they cannot evict innocent
tenants."

Four tenants of the Oakland Housing Authority in California challenged the
federal policy in 1998 after they received eviction notices.

One of the tenants, Pearlie Rucker, 63, had been in public housing since
1985. She was living with a mentally disabled daughter, two grandchildren
and one great-granddaughter when the Housing Authority informed her she
would be evicted.

The reason: Rucker's daughter was found with cocaine three blocks from
their apartment.

Willie Lee, 71, and Barbara Hill, 63, also received eviction notices after
their grandsons who lived with them were caught smoking marijuana together
in an apartment complex garage.

Herman Walker, a disabled 75-year-old, was told he would be evicted because
a caretaker and guests in his apartment were found with cocaine.

A federal trial judge in 1988 issued an order blocking the evictions, but a
three-member panel of the 9th Circuit overturned it last year. The tenants
appealed to the full Court of Appeals.