HOUSING AGENCY TOUGH ON DRUGS

PASSAIC - In the last 12 months, the city's Housing Authority has
put 30 families on an eviction list and more than 150 people on a
"no-trespass" list as part of a tougher stance against drugs and
crime on its premises.

And while some are lauding the program, others say it does nothing
more than uproot families or tear them apart.

"I try to tell him don't go out there and get into trouble, but I
can't control what he does," said Margaret Jackson, whose son, Calvin
Stegal, 19, has numerous arrests for drugs and one arrest for beating
up another tenant, according to Jose Colon, the authority's security
director. Jackson sobbed when she learned she has been put on the
authority's eviction list.

"I got nowhere to go," she said.

Bill Snyder, the authority's executive director, says the action
reflects the authority's more rigid enforcement of the federal "one
strike" policy. The rule gives public housing authorities the right
to evict a resident if any member of their household or a guest is
caught using illegal drugs or is involved in drug-related criminal
activity on or near the premises -- even if the resident was unaware
of the activity.

The rule has stirred controversy across the country, including in
Philadelphia, New York City and Chicago. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme
Court unanimously upheld the rule in HUD v. Rucker. The suit was
brought by four California residents who were evicted.

Bryan Zises, a spokesman for the Chicago Housing Authority, told the
New York Times that the exclusions helped the agency provide a safe
environment for residents.

"At the end of the day, we're landlords, and we need to be as good a
landlord as we can for the people who live there," Zises said in an
Oct. 1 New York Times article.

Snyder's efforts are part of a larger project to get the authority
back on its feet after a federal audit last year found the agency
improperly handled $2.4 million in funding. Now that the finances are
in better order -- with a surplus of $40,000 recorded at the end of
November -- Snyder said that his mission is to focus on some of the
quality-of-life issues that plague the authority's properties.

Residents have mixed feelings about his "tough love"
approach.

Resident Leader Katie Johnson said she has noticed fewer drug dealers
in the park behind her home on Sixth Street. She attributes the
change to Snyder's aggressiveness.

"He processes stuff faster and the policemen are doing more raids and
the lawyers are working faster," Johnson said, adding that, along
with the one strike policy, the installation of cameras in hallways
and the authority's new contract for services with the county
Sheriff's Department, has helped matters.

Mary Williams says she believes the policy is disruptive. She said
she was forced to forsake her 19-year-old son, Mark Williams earlier
this year when he nearly got her evicted from her Vreeland Village
apartment. Mark had been arrested several times on drug possession
charges.

In May, the housing authority sent Mary Williams, a resident of
public housing since 1994, an eviction notice just about the same
time she was laid off from her job. As part of a mediation agreement
in housing court, Williams agreed to bar her son from coming to her
home in exchange for being able to stay on the premises. Mark is in
the Passaic County Jail awaiting his next court date.

"If I accepted my son, then I would have been homeless," she said.
"That (policy) pushes him into the street. He's really immature. Now,
he's going to be worse with no support, no foundation."

Williams, a single mother, said that her son had been unruly and
depressed for several years. Williams said she blames herself for not
having paid enough attention to him, having worked many 10-hour days
at her job. Williams tried to enroll Mark in a drug rehab program,
but her insurance refused to pay for the treatment, she said.

Williams said she understands the reasons for the policy and values
the housing authority's efforts to keep the apartments safe. "I want
to be able to walk peacefully, too," she said. "I don't want to have
to worry that some guy is going to be breaking into my house."

Jackson, whose son Calvin caused her to be listed for eviction, said
that her son is bipolar and harbors a lot of anger. She said his
father has not been a part of their lives.

"He needs to be evaluated and counseled -- someone to talk
to."

Once on the eviction list, the matter is referred to a mediator and
most cases are resolved to the tenants' benefit, Snyder said. In some
cases, when the mediator cannot resolve matters the case is referred
to a judge, he said. Those put on the "no trespass" list are
forbidden to set foot on any Housing Authority property.

Jackson said she is worried about the future because she has three
grandchildren living with her, a 4-year-old, and twin 1-year-olds.
Jackson said she too is bipolar and receives a $600-a-month Social
Security disability check. Jackson said if she is evicted, she and
her grandchildren will be out on the street.

Advocates say that kicking out those with trouble does not resolve
some of the complicated issues they face: drug abuse, poverty and, in
many cases, untreated mental illness.

"The one strike policy is easy to apply, but actually dealing with
the psychological needs, evaluating households, and determining who
is the victim of drugs and who is profiting from drugs, that, they
always don't do," said John Bart, a an attorney for Northeast New
Jersey Legal Services.

He also said the policy unfairly deems tenants guilty by
association.

"I don't think innocent heads of households should lose their public
housing because of acts by other people that they are not aware of or
in control," he said.

Bart said, often in his one strike cases, his clients have various
disabilities that could impair their ability to understand the rules,
read or understand notices.

He will argue in court to prevent an eviction that the Housing
Authority did not give his clients the extra accommodation it is
required to provide under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Snyder, the director of the city Housing Authority, said he feels
sympathetic toward residents and their problems. But, he added, over
the past several years, with national cutbacks for housing
authorities, officials have tighter resident services budgets and
the focus has been placed on programs for younger children.

"I'd loved to be the mental health agency, the social agency," Snyder
said. "But we are a housing authority. We don't have the financial
wherewithal to provide the services that every resident needs or
claims to need."