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RESTRICTIONS ON RENTING MAY BE TOOL IN DRUG WAR

Berwick has done it.  So has Sunbury.

Two communities in neighboring counties that have been ravaged by drug abuse took the bold step of enacting an ordinance that banned landlords from renting to anyone who had been convicted of a felony drug offense.  Mount Carmel could vote on a similar ordinance as soon as Nov.  20.

The impact of drug abuse is felt on communities every day, including those in Schuylkill County.  Because of it, we drug-test in schools, we drug-test in work places.  Like the proposed ordinance, such procedures push the boundaries of constitutionality, and yet many leaders, see little choice.

The toss-up is between allowing drugs to continue to drag down the community ( homicides, suicides, assaults, petty crime, poor health, increased human services, increased police and emergency costs and more ) and pushing the boundaries of constitutional rights in regulating who can rent a home or apartment.

While the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits landlords and real estate agents from discriminating against potential tenants based on several factors, including race, religion and disability, with drug addiction considered a disability, the statute does not offer discrimination protection to, among others, persons convicted of illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance.  Also, Berwick's ordinance was upheld on appeal in state court.

A logical question has arisen, of course: Do such ordinances merely push convicted drug felons to other communities? With that in mind, perhaps a regional discussion of this ordinance is in order.  As has been proven with blight, gathering a larger group of leaders and experts produces more effective results on a larger scale.  Local law enforcement and the Schuylkill County Drug Task Force could lead organization of such an effort.

Rather than merely pushing drug dealers from one local town to the next, a coordinated effort could push them out of the area all together.

Rental restrictions won't end the war on drugs; nothing has come close, yet, to a solution.  But it would give local communities one extra tool in combating the problem.