OFFICIALS LAUD DRUG-USE POLICY

Housing Leaders Hope One-Strike Rule Is Just First Step

Local housing authorities say a controversial drug-use policy recently
upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court should only be the first step in more
government control over public housing.

Glen Martin, director of the Kanawha County Housing Authority, said the
Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold a one-strike drug use policy will
help housing officials exert control and clean up public housing.

"I think it can do nothing but help us," Martin said. "I think the ruling
is correct, and I think we need more like them."

The Supreme Court ruled last week in favor of the housing authorities'
no-tolerance drug policy. The policy allows authorities to evict entire
families from public housing if one member is caught using drugs on or off
housing property.

Four elderly California residents contested the law when they were evicted
from public housing after family members were found with drugs. Members of
senior citizens groups and the Low Income Housing Coalition also have
criticized the law, stating it may unfairly punish tenants who have no
knowledge of drug-related activity among family members.

The Kanawha County Housing Authority operates 93 housing units in Rand and
West Dunbar. The authority has used the one-strike policy once or twice to
evict tenants and has not invoked the rule in recent months, Martin said.

Martin said the biggest problems in local public housing often stem from
people who do not live in the housing developments. He said the authority
must have the right to punish tenants when their family, friends and other
visitors make housing developments unsafe for other tenants.

"A few older people will be affected with their children and grandchildren
coming in using drugs or smoking dope in the back room," Martin said. "We
hope that doesn't happen. We haven't had an instance where that's happened
yet."

Charleston Housing Authority Marketing Manager Michele Hatfield said the
one-strike drug policy is strictly enforced in the city's 1,337 public
housing units. Tenants immediately are evicted if they are arrested on drug
charges or if any kind of drug paraphernalia is found inside their apartments.

"The one-strike rule is a very valuable tool because it is so strict and
because we can put it right in the lease," Hatfield said.

The specifications of the one-strike rule are outlined in each tenant's
lease agreement, meaning that ignorance of the policy or of other
occupants' actions is not a basis for an "unfair" eviction, Hatfield said.

"It's in the lease that a tenant is responsible for what goes on in their
apartment," Hatfield said. "There has to be a proven problem and proof of a
situation, but it is in the lease."

Charleston Housing Authority Acting Director Mark Taylor said feedback from
public housing tenants indicates they also are supportive of the
no-tolerance drug policy.

"I think our tenants support it because they are just as concerned with the
safety of the housing," Taylor said. "Especially in our family
developments, tenants are trying to keep children away from these kinds of
things and away from drugs."