Pubdate: Mon, 16 Jul 2001
Source: The Herald-Sun (NC)
Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Sun
Contact:  http://www.herald-sun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428
Author: Ananda Shorey (Associated Press)

PUBLIC HOUSING PLAN WORRIES RESIDENTS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It helped to keep Pat Jordan off drugs, one day at 
a time, and give Dorothy Spillers a sense of security in her own home.

For residents of public housing, a federal program designed to rid 
projects of drugs and crime has been more than just another series of 
grants from Washington to urban America.

The Bush administration, however, argues that it does not work and 
that there are better ways to make public housing safer and help 
people straighten out their lives. President Bush has proposed ending 
the program, which dates from the dawn of his father's administration.

That worries beneficiaries who fear they will lose a familiar base of 
support that has reduced drug-dealing, crime and addiction in their 
neighborhoods.

"It is easier to get your next fix than to get help," said Jordan, a 
38-year-old single mother of two who lives in a Baltimore project. 
"When you get doors slammed in your face and there are waiting lists, 
that's sad."

Jordan said the drug elimination program, run by the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, helped keep her off drugs for 29 days, 
the longest she has been clean in 11 years. She said group and 
individual counseling sessions that are often conducted by former 
addicts helped her stay clean.

The $310 million program provides grants to municipal housing 
authorities for a variety of programs to help improve the lives of 
the housing projects' poor residents.

But Bush considers the program less effective than evictions and 
other regulatory tools in ridding housing projects of crime and drugs.

The money is used to hire security personnel and investigators; 
educate, prevent and treat drug addicts; buy security devices, such 
as cameras and fences; and improve security and drug prevention 
programs.

Congress is considering competing legislation either to cut the 
program or fund it fully.

Although Bush is seeking to kill the program, the administration 
wants to give housing authorities $110 million next year to spend as 
they see fit. That money could pay for crime- and drug-fighting 
efforts.

Housing Secretary Mel Martinez said some current spending -- for 
recreation, field trips, gun buyback campaigns and programs that 
reduce stress through the use of incense, candles and gem stones-- 
strays too far from HUD's primary mission of providing housing for 
the poor.

The Baltimore City Housing Authority, for example, used 
drug-elimination funds for a field trip for 200 public housing youths 
to learn how to sail boats at a downtown sailing club, said agency 
spokesman John Wesley. He said the children also participated in a 
Web chat with an astronaut.

Martinez said cutting the 12-year-old program allows HUD to get out 
of areas that are the primary focus of other federal, state and local 
agencies.

"We have taken on the burden of responsibility of caring for a very 
vulnerable population out of the hands, in some ways, of local police 
and law enforcement where it rightfully belongs and taken it upon the 
housing authorities," Martinez said.

The program goes "way beyond our mission," he said last week. "While 
it has had good results in some places, it has been terribly misused 
in others."

Public housing residents, though, say local law enforcement agencies 
often are unable to provide adequate safety.

"The Chicago Police Department does a good job of patrolling the 
area, but they cannot be here all the time," said Spillers, 56, an 
eight-year resident of public housing.

In her project, drug-elimination money is used to pay for a 
supplemental security force of residents. Participants get a $50 rent 
credit after they spend 32 hours checking buildings for suspicious 
behavior and hazardous conditions.

The administration says religious organizations, with federal help, 
may be able to perform many of the services, such as counseling drug 
addicts, now provided under the program.

But Samuel Little of the Baltimore housing agency said that people of 
different denominations, such as Jordan, who is a Jehovah's Witness, 
may not want to take advantage of the counseling or services.

"There is a concern that different denominations may be a barrier to 
reaching some of the families," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe