PUBLIC HOUSING; ENFORCEMENT OF ANTI-DRUG LAW GOES BEYOND INTENT

Back when crack was king of the drug hill, crack dealers often found safe
haven in public housing projects where they knew elderly and low- income
residents were too fearful for their lives and safety to tell police about
illegal drug activity going on around them.

Responding to fears that drug dealers soon would take control of public
housing projects, Congress passed a zero-tolerance law that gave public
housing officials the right to evict tenants who sold drugs, used drugs or
enabled others to do so on public housing property.

It was a well-intentioned law that sought to restore peace and safety in
public housing by providing public housing tenants with a measure of
protection from drug dealers. Yet some who have been evicted-- particularly
the elderly--say the law exceeds the limits of common sense and unduly
burdens those who cannot control what others do.

Four Oakland-area senior citizens filed suit after being evicted under the
law. One plaintiff claims she was evicted when her disabled daughter was
caught not in the public housing complex, but three blocks away.

And that, some say, is the crux of the law's problems.

It isn't unreasonable to expect public housing tenants to be law- abiding
citizens and not allow illegal drug activity in and around their public
homes. In fact, those who live in public housing should welcome laws that
seek to give them a better, safer place to live.

But it seems unreasonable for housing tenants to lose their homes because
of offenses committed in areas other than on public housing property. The
law needs clarification to better reflect Congress' original intent:
keeping drugs and drug dealers out of public housing. The way the law is
applied now, it removes those related to or acquainted with people who
break the law down the street, across town--places where the tenant
obviously isn't "enabling" drug offenses as the law states.

Public housing officials and tenants should have the right to demand a
better place to live, and laws regarding drug peddlers and drug users can
help meet that demand. Those laws, however, must be more clearly defined so
tenants aren't evicted for offenses that don't happen in their homes or
where they have no control over others' actions. Common sense says the
anti-drug law is a good idea, but it's applications now are too broad.