ADDICTS MAY LOSE HOMES

WHOLE families can be evicted from public housing in America if one family
member or a guest is convicted of drug use, the United States Supreme Court
has ruled.

William H. Rehnquist, the Chief Justice, said that there was nothing
unconstitutional about "no-fault evictions" of tenants related to convicted
drug-users because they have failed to meet a condition of their lease.
Public housing leases state that tenants should ensure that no "drug-related
criminal activity" will take place on or near the premises.

The ruling by the Supreme Court followed an appeal by four people in
Oakland, California: two grandparents whose grandchildren, who lived with
them, were caught smoking marijuana in a housing estate car park; Pearlie
Rucker, 63, a great-grandmother whose mentally disabled daughter was found
with crack cocaine half a mile from her flat; and a disabled 75-year-old man
whose nurse was found with cocaine in his flat.

Civil rights lawyers told the court that evictions amounted to draconian
enforcement.

The Chief Justice said, however, that drugs led to "murders, muggings, and
other forms of violence against tenants" and to the deterioration of the
physical environment, so "it was reasonable for Congress to permit no-fault
evictions in order to provide public and other federally assisted low-income
housing that is decent, safe, and free from illegal drugs".