Anti-Drug Program Faces Ax

President Bush wants the federal government to end a program that fights drug abuse in public housing in favor of policies like evicting residents caught with illegal drugs.

The Bush administration argues that the current policy does not work and that there are better ways to make public housing safer and help people straighten out their lives.

Mr. Bush has proposed ending the program, which dates from the dawn of his father's administration.

That worries some of the 3 million people in public housing, 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 Pat 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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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.

According to the president's budget, the program was "terminated because the program was found to have limited impact, the same activities are eligible under the Public Housing Operating and Capital programs, and regulatory tools such as eviction are more effective at reducing drug activity in public housing. Program funds will be redirected to other drug prevention efforts."

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 Dorothy 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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