HOUSING AUTHORITY APPLAUDS 'ZERO TOLERANCE' DECISION

LAFAYETTE - Lafayette Public Housing Authority officials agree with this
week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows the eviction of entire
families even if only one person is arrested for illegal drug possession or
other criminal activity.

But, Housing Authority Director Walter Guillory said on Wednesday,
discretion and common sense must be used to avoid punishing innocent tenants.

"We have to look at each individual case and use some common sense,"
Guillory said. "If they didn't have any idea, then you have to use discretion."

Guillory said 12 to 15 people have been evicted in the past two years for
violating a zero tolerance policy against illegal drugs and criminal
activity. But he does not recall evicting an entire family because of the
criminal activity of one person. There are 572 families in Lafayette's six
housing developments.

Tenants opt to take the name of the person arrested for illegal activity
off the lease - which prevents them from living in the housing development
- - rather than move out, Guillory said.

Gayle Boudreaux is a tenant who chose to kick her older children out of her
home rather than move out of the housing development. Her son was arrested
for possession of marijuana in 1992, before the zero tolerance policy was
in effect. Still, Boudreaux said, she had to take her son's name off of her
lease to continue living in the Moss Street housing development.

Later, her daughter was arrested for possession of crack cocaine, Boudreaux
said.

"I took her off my lease," Boudreaux said. "I would have lost my house
because she was doing crack in my home. It wasn't my fault. It's the drug
addict's fault."

Boudreaux said the zero tolerance policy keeps her neighborhood safe.

"I think it's a law that needs to be in effect," she said.

Jonathan Carmouche of the Housing Authority said policies are about to be
changed to offer residents a chance to enter a drug intervention program
prior to being evicted.

Buddy Webb, a Lafayette Housing Authority board member, said the zero
tolerance policy is good, particularly for housing developments in big
cities which are beset by gangs and drug dealers.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal law that allows public
housing authorities to evict whole families when someone in the household
is caught with illegal drugs, even if the others knew nothing about the
illegal activity.