SOME EBR HOUSING TENANTS APPLAUD COURT RULING ON DRUG-RELATED EVICTIONS

The Supreme Court recently upheld a federal law that allows public
housing tenants to be evicted if anyone in their household or a guest
is caught with drugs in or near housing property. That rule applies
even if the tenant doesn't know about the drug activity.

Residents in East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority facilities
have mixed feelings about the decision.

"If they sign their lease and they know, then yeah, they should go,"
said Debra Moses, resident of Scotland Villa public housing. "Who
would want their kids growing up around drugs? I don't want mine to.
I wouldn't want kids seeing that."

However, others felt that evicting people who don't know about the
illegal activity of a household member, or guest, goes too far.

Sharon Edwards, a resident at Capitol Square public housing, posed
the question of what if you invite someone over and they bring a
friend you don't know.

"What are you going to do? Pat everyone down?" she asked.

As the parent of four children, she said, she can imagine it would be
hard to throw your own child out of the house when they have nowhere
else to go. Instead, the Housing Authority should use some of their
money to offer counseling to people who find themselves in trouble.

"This is the last thing before you get to being homeless," she said.
"I've been homeless and I know what that is. I wouldn't wish that on
my worst enemy."

According to The Associated Press, the Supreme Court ruling was the
result of a federal lawsuit filed in 1998 when four evicted public
housing tenants from Oakland, Calif., said the law couldn't have been
meant to punish people who were unaware of any violation. The law was
passed by Congress and signed by President Reagan in 1988.

In 1996, President Clinton ordered the Department of Housing and
Urban Development to encourage stiffer enforcement of the policy by
the nation's 3,200 public housing authorities. The law applies to
families living in public housing and those receiving federal rent
subsidies.

"I think it is fair," said Lilie Whitfield, a resident at Kelly
Terrace public housing. "If they say they don't want them in here
using drugs, they should be (evicted)."

She said if someone is in public housing it's because they need
somewhere to stay. If they then bring someone who is using drugs into
their home and get evicted, they've brought it on themselves, she
said.

"When they put them in these projects, they explain all that to
them," Whitfield said.

East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority Executive Director Richard
Murray said the law is a good tool in protecting law-abiding citizens
who live in public housing or receive subsidies.

"You don't want the drug dealers in your neighborhood. We all want a
peaceful neighborhood," he said.

Although the Housing Authority tracks who is evicted under the law,
Murray said Thursday that it would take several days to compile a
total.

The law had been overturned by a federal appeals court last year, but
the Supreme Court said the law is a basic tenant-landlord agreement.
In addition, the decision said that if a person can't control drug or
criminal activity by a member of the household, they are still a
threat to the safety of the neighborhood.

However, the law does give housing authorities leeway on how to deal
with a situation in which a tenant doesn't know a member of their
household is involved with drugs. The law does not require that the
tenant be evicted, but gives local housing authorities the ability to
evaluate each case, according to the Supreme Court decision.

"Each case has its own merit, and that's how we need to look at
them," Murray said.

Murray said the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority tries to
work with a tenant before going to eviction.

"We would ask to remove that person off the lease," he said. "If
she's willing to remove that family member from the lease, we could
ban that person from the property."

Edwards said that working with the tenant instead of automatically
evicting them sounds fair, but on one condition.

"If they do it," she said. She expressed little faith that what
representatives from the Housing Authority say they're going to do
will actually get done.

Rev. Gennie Warren, resident at Kelly Terrace, agreed and said the
Housing Authority should work with residents if they're faced with
this situation instead of automatically evicting the entire family.

Although he doesn't think it's fair to evict the entire family
because of one person's actions, he did agree that using the law in
some cases would make a neighborhood safer and act as a deterrent to
others. If a person agrees to get help, the Housing Authority should
work with that person, he said, but in some cases the agency might be
forced to use the eviction law.

"Keep in mind that it says may, not must (evict)," Warren said.