OAKLAND TENANTS FIGHT FEDS' POLICY

OAKLAND -- Herman Walker is in the eye of the storm swirling around
public housing.

A former minister, he is 75, partially paralyzed in his left arm, and
suffers from severe arthritis. He lives alone in public housing for
seniors on Harrison Street. To continue living independently, he hired
a caretaker to help him bathe, dress and cook.

The helper sometimes invited friends to Walker's apartment.
Occasionally, Housing Authority lawyers said in court documents, they
smoked crack cocaine. The housing staff warned Walker. But he says he
didn't believe them because he had never seen his caretaker or her
friends use drugs.

Last year, his helper was arrested for drug possession. The same day,
Herman Walker's building manager told him to move out.

"I was shocked," Walker said. "I asked what for?"

When Walker learned he could be evicted for his helper's crime, he
fired the woman and vowed to carefully watch future caretakers.

But it was too late, the building manager said. Walker recalls the
manager telling him, "We'll file suit and you won't stand a chance. We
win 98 percent of our cases."

Perhaps, but Walker's case may be the one that changes the way the
federal government's "One Strike, You're Out" eviction policy is enforced.

In March, the Eviction Defense Center filed suit in U.S. District
Court on behalf of Walker and three other tenants who were being
evicted for crimes by others.

Though dozens of lawsuits have been filed in state courts around the
country, this case is significant because it may be the first time a
federal judge has moved to block an eviction under one-strike.

A final ruling or jury verdict in the case could alter enforcement of
the policy in Northern California and perhaps nationwide.

That's why the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has
appealed the judge's preliminary order barring evictions of Walker and
others until their cases are resolved.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer has indicated in preliminary
rulings that he thinks it may be unconstitutional to evict people from
public housing for crimes they knew nothing about.

In June, Breyer issued an order barring the Housing Authority from
ousting the four tenants until the lawsuit is resolved.

"The Court concludes that Congress has not addressed the question of
whether a housing authority may terminate the lease of an "innocent'
tenant," Breyer wrote. "Defendants insist that by its silence Congress
specifically intended that no knowledge or ability to control is
required" for evictions.

Breyer hinted that he doesn't agree with the defense.

"Such reasoning leads to the conclusion that Congress specifically
intended that if a tenant invites a guest into her apartment and the
guest engaged in drug-related criminal activity five years earlier on
the other side of the country, the drug-related activity .C7.C7.
could be cause for termination, regardless of whether the tenant had
knowledge," Breyer wrote.

"The court doubts that Congress specifically intended that a tenant
could be terminated under such unreasonable circumstances."

In preparing this case, lawyer Anne Tamiko Omura and her colleagues
listened to taped congressional hearings and read Senate records, but
found no direct reference to the one-strike law being used against
unwitting tenants whose guests commit a crime.

"It was very clear that congressional intent was to evict those who
had personal knowledge of illegal activity," she said.

Walker, who says he has done nothing wrong and feels he is being
persecuted, says the Housing Authority discounted his side of the story.

"There's always two sides to everything," he said. "To them, there's
only one."

Willie Lee, 71, and Barbara Hill, 63, also are being evicted because
their grandsons were cited for possessing marijuana in a parking lot
near their apartments.

Pearlie Rucker, 63, is being evicted because her mentally disabled
daughter was arrested for public intoxication three blocks from her
Oakland apartment and because Rucker's grown son -- who didn't live
with her D6 was arrested for allegedly possessing cocaine eight
blocks away.

The Eviction Defense Center has added Du Nguyen, 61, as a plaintiff.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee whose son was arrested for alleged car
theft about 8 miles from Nguyen's Oakland public apartment, is
disabled and speaks little English.

In every case, the tenants said they didn't know the younger people
were committing crimes or using drugs or alcohol.

"It's not right," said Walker, whose sunny one-bedroom apartment is
filled with family photos, posters and cascading water plants. "I'm
being punished for someone else's crime."

Oakland Housing Authority lawyer Gary Lafayette said the agency likely
would appeal a final order barring one-strike evictions of unwitting
tenants whose guests or relatives commit crimes.

"This is not an easy issue," Lafayette said. "On the surface, people
look at this case and say, "You can't do that.' But what about the
single mom who raises her kids and doesn't want them exposed to drugs?
To guns? Shouldn't they be protected?"

1998 San Francisco Examiner

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady