THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 12, 1996 TAG: 9611120230
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 44 lines
If you're a resident of Suffolk public housing and you're caught with illegal drugs - anywhere - you could be evicted.
If you're a public housing resident who's abusing alcohol and bothering other residents or putting them in danger, you, too, could lose your home.
These stricter rules are possibilities as the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority begins to strengthen its occupancy policies to meet new federal guidelines.
The new rules, mostly affecting criminal behavior, could take effect next year.
``We're just trying to approve new policies and procedures that have been dictated to us,'' said Everette Devoe, deputy director of the housing authority. ``We're just meeting the guidelines of the `One Strike and You're Out' policy.''
Devoe said the biggest change would be the possibility of evicting residents involved in drug-related activity anywhere. Current policy allows the authority to evict residents only if they are caught with drugs on or near the public housing site in which they live.
``One Strike and You're Out,'' signed in March by President Bill Clinton, is the latest move to keep drugs out of public housing nationwide.
The crackdown on crime is intended to protect three million people who live in low-income apartments.
Vice President Al Gore said the policy would make it tougher for criminals to ``run roughshod over the rest of public housing.''
The policy allows housing authorities to obtain criminal records of those living in and moving into public housing. An applicant who has a history of criminal activity or who has been evicted from assisted housing within the last three years because of drug-related activity could be denied residency.
In such cases, the housing authority does not have to grant a grievance hearing. MEMO: The housing authority will hold a public hearing on the proposed
policy today at 7 p.m. at the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing
Authority, 530 E. Pinner St. by CNB