LEADERS OF DRUG PROGRAM CRY FOUL

Albany-- Treatment Facility's Managers Say State Agency Didn't Provide
Promised Funding To Fix Building, Then Ousted Residents

Managers of a longtime South End drug treatment program blamed a state
funding snafu Tuesday for forcing out its clients and leaving it on the
verge of closing its doors.

About two dozen men in treatment for drug and alcohol addictions at St.
John's Project Lift were moved into a downtown motel late Monday after state
officials declared the program's building at 37 S. Ferry St. a fire hazard.

That left the program's executive director, Sharon Facteau, foul, saying the
state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services -- which ordered
clients out of building -- had been dragging its feet for more than two
years on a promise of $1.5 million in aid needed to repair the 157-year-old
former church rectory.

An OASAS spokeswoman would not comment on the funding issue but confirmed
the agency ordered the clients out for safety reasons.

The program has rented the building for the last 25 years from St.
John's/St. Ann's Church and hasn't been able to pay for all the needed
repairs, Facteau said.

Project Lift is paying $600 a day for motel rooms for its evicted residents,
without state reimbursement for its services.

"All we want is to keep our program. We'll put on jeans and start shoveling
ourselves if we have to," Facteau said. "The state's been saying all along
that the check is in the mail. We've been lied to and jerked around."

Facteau said the state office promised the aid in 2000 but never delivered
it.

Facteau admitted the building has a number of safety issues, including a
lack of fire sprinklers, a leaky roof, unsafe stairs and bad electrical and
plumbing systems. The program would have tried to relocate to a newer
building if not for the promised state aid, she said.

"At the state's request, we submitted detailed renovation plans about a year
ago," Facteau said.

An inspection by state officials Monday that led to the clients' evictions
was triggered by a report Facteau sent to the state office last week. In the
report, a consultant outlined safety violations and indicated anything less
than a total rehabilitation of the building was not feasible.

Jennifer Marcellus, a spokeswoman for OASAS, could not immediately address
Facteau's claims about state aid.

"We responded as a result of information provided by (Facteau) that
indicated the building was a fire hazard," Marcellus said. "Our inspector
went out with officials from the county on Monday and found immediate danger
to the health and welfare of the clients and staff."

She said treatment continues for current residents under an emergency plan,
but she could not say whether the sudden loss of state reimbursement could
close Project Lift.

Facteau declined to let program residents speak with a reporter, citing
confidentiality issues.

Robert Johnson, 40, the program's resident manager, was himself a client
four years ago, when he faced a choice between treatment and a prison term.

"I was here 11 months and it was here that I learned to be responsible,"
said Johnson, who kicked alcohol and heroin, and regained custody of his
11-year-old daughter. "People are turned around here."