DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 239 Fri, 29 Mar 2002 It Is Not OK To Evict Granny PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE By now every daily newspaper in the United States has carried the story about the Supreme Court deciding it is OK to throw entire families out of public housing for the sins of one family member or friend. And the editorials and OPEDs are starting to appear, both for and against this decision. Ohio's Beacon Journal editorial 'Scales of Justice' said, "A 1988 federal law authorized the Department of Housing and Urban Development to evict from public housing any tenant who violated the lease requirement that no tenant, members of the household and guests be involved in using, producing, selling or distributing drugs. "HUD then developed a "one-strike-and-out" zero-tolerance policy that permits a family to be evicted -- even if the tenant had no way of knowing that a guest or member of the household had violated the drug policy. Also, it made no difference whether the violation occurred within or away from the housing property. "Harsh and inflexible, the policy has been applied in California against such tenants as an elderly woman whose mentally disabled daughter was caught with cocaine three blocks away from the apartment she shared with her mother, and an elderly man whose caretaker was caught with crack cocaine. By zero-tolerance guidelines, they were guilty because of the behavior of others. "This week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld without a dissenting vote HUD's eviction guidelines as within the language and intent of the law as enacted by Congress.... "As with other war-on-drugs policies and legislation -- for example, forfeiture laws that target homes, automobiles and other properties suspected to be associated with drug-related crimes -- the eviction policy offers one more example that as instruments of justice, zero- tolerance policies are blunt, utterly unfair and indiscriminate.... "The high court's ruling exposes the deep flaw in the law. The onus is on Congress to rectify it by expanding the administrative discretion of housing agencies." In addition to contacting your congress persons, letting the media, and thru the media the public, know your views is critical if we hope to turn this around. Your Letters to the Editor will help the public see the basic injustice in this law. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do - it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is our way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. FINDING TARGETS FOR YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Already many dozens of news items have been archived at MAP. They are all good targets. http://www.mapinc.org/find?TK=evict&dd1=26&mm1=3&yy1=2002&DE=m You may wish to write to many of the newspapers in your state. Finding the email addresses for Letters to the Editor for your state's newspapers is also easy. Go to http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm Use the Location dropdown to select your state. Check the Email Only block. If you wish to have the list sent to you as well as shown, enter your email address in the 'Email to' field. Press the Search button. IMPORTANT NOTE Newspaper editors expect that the LTEs you write are for them alone. For the best results always address each email one at a time to each newspaper. Below is a list of some of the early opinion items already published. Besides being superb targets for your Letters, they may give you some ideas for drafting your letter: Editorial: Zero Tolerance For Zero Tolerance Las Vegas Sun (NV) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n595/a03.html Editorial: Federal Housing: Laying Down The Law Topeka Capital-Journal (KS) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n599/a03.html OPED: New Law's Target Too Broad Ledger-Enquirer (GA) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n593/a11.html Editorial: Scales Of Justice Beacon Journal, The (OH) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n593/a06.html Column: There's One Law For The Rich, Another For Poor Intelligencer Journal (PA) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n593/a03.html Editorial: Mix 'Zero Tolerance' Rule With Compassion Jackson Sun News (TN) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n592/a06.html Editorial: Little Justice In Court Decision On Evictions Asheville Citizen-Times (NC) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n591/a07.html Editorial: Kicking Out Grandma St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n584/a02.html Editorial: A Win For Public Housing Boston Herald (MA) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n583/a07.html Editorial: Drug Law Ruling Can Help Clean Up Public Housing Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (MS) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n582/a09.html SAMPLE LETTER NOTE If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. To the Editor: Congress writes a law, and the government uses it to force families who would otherwise be homeless to sign a contract saying that they will all be thrown out of their public housing - if a family member, friend, or even a visitor is alleged to be using drugs. It does not matter if the alleged offence is blocks or miles away and the person signing the lease had no idea that the other person was involved with drugs. And the Supreme Court agrees! Congress can write laws that are unfair - that tear up American values of justice and fair play. It is OK to evict granny and the rest of the family because one person sneaks off and is caught doing wrong. Never mind that the person who sinned may be being punished, or even in taxpayer supported rehabilitation. Just put them all out on the street. Must be that new 'compassionate conservatism' that I keep reading about! Richard Lake Chief Warrant Officer U.S. Army, Retired Escanaba, Michigan (always provide your email and phone contacts so that editors may verify that you sent the letter) ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ Prepared by Richard Lake, DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialist

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