HOUSING AUTHORITY DEMAND TENANTS, GUESTS DRUG FREE

New Jersey housing authorities have the right to force tenants whose rents
are federally subsidized to pledge that they, their family members and
their guests will remain drug-free or else risk eviction, a state appeals
court ruled Thursday. The ruling was a victory for the Atlantic City
Housing Authority, whose zero tolerance policy was earlier rejected by a
trial court judge. The three-judge appeals panel ruled against three
tenants of Atlantic City housing projects who declined to sign their leases
for fear they would lose their homes even if they were unaware of drug use
by others.

Thursday's ruling skirted the constitutional implications of the federal
policy that the housing authority was enforcing. It merely recognized that
the federal drug-free public housing mandate supersedes state regulations.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development regulation sets the
drug-free conditions on tenants who receive rental assistance. It includes
the tenants, their family members and their guests, and it covers drug use
both on and off the premises. Atlantic City housing officials incorporated
the federal language in their leases in 1998.

But three tenants, Joanne Spratley, Margarite Burgess and Stacy Jackson,
refused to sign.

The lower court ruled in favor of the tenants, none of whom could be
reached for comment Thursday. Their attorney also did not return a message
left by The Associated Press.

The trial court found that the federally mandated lease provision was
''unreasonable'' because it subjected tenants to eviction for the criminal
acts of others over whom they have no control or knowledge.

But ''state nullification of a federally-mandated lease provision based
upon a finding of unreasonableness would tear at the very roots of our
federal system,'' the judges wrote in Thursday's ruling.

The underlying issue of zero tolerance has received ''uneven treatment'' in
other courts, with some reaching a strict interpretation of the federal
regulations and others granting tenants some leeway, the judges noted.

While they chose not to debate the merits of the HUD rules in New Jersey,
the judges said tenants who sign the leases are not precluded from fighting
the policy later.

A lawyer for the housing authority said the ruling has far-reaching
implications.

''What the appellate division said here was that tenants just can't refuse
to sign what is a valid lease amendment,'' said Allen S. Zeller. He noted
that tenants retain their right to appeal eviction on drug charges.

''Our position was, all the other residents have a right to live"