Washington — Since the first Bush administration, federal dollars have paid for security officers, alarm systems and after-school activities for youngsters in poor public housing projects.
President Bush, however, has proposed scrapping the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, saying it has had "limited impact" and that "regulatory tools such as eviction are more effective at reducing drug activity in public housing."
Program supporters are worried about the message it would send to public housing residents, who themselves fear it may imperil their safety.
In his proposed budget for 2002, the president wants to give public housing leaders about half of the $310 million allocated this year for the program for security, higher utility rates or other needs.
Part of Bush's approach is getting religious groups involved in neighborhoods. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees a variety of housing programs mainly for the poor, "is going to be one of the lead agencies in the faith-based efforts," said Robert Woodson Jr., deputy chief of staff at HUD.
A program supporter, Rep. John LaFalce, D-N.Y., said Bush's idea would, in effect, tell families trying to raise their children in public housing that "drug dealers are welcomed back" and that combating crime no longer is a priority.
But Woodson said Congress spends hundreds of millions yearly on the drug initiative and "we still have a lot of problems and crime in public housing. Maybe we need a different approach here."
During the week in February when Bush proposed his budget, a Kentucky police officer was shot in the chest and nearly died while trying to arrest a suspected drug dealer in a Louisville housing project.
Louisville has used the federal program to pay for 14 lawmen to patrol housing complexes and would be concerned about losing the money, said Tim Barry, acting director of the housing authority.
Advocates for the 1.3 million families who live in government housing projects defend the program started in 1989 under then-HUD Secretary Jack Kemp in the administration of Bush's father. An aide to Kemp said Kemp would not discuss the program.
"It's just absolutely insane to say it hasn't worked," said Richard Nelson, director of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.
Nelson said the substitute spending recommended by Bush would not even cover half the expected increase in utility costs.
Ethel Velez, 52, a lifelong public housing resident in New York, says that while the drug program has not solved problems, scrapping it would add to crime worries in housing projects.
"If they're going to get less (protection) than they get now, they're going to be mad and very scared," said Velez, the president of her Harlem neighborhood association of more than 3,000 people.
In all, Bush proposed cutting an estimated $1.3 billion next year from programs overseen by HUD, according to an analysis by LaFalce, who held a news conference last week with other Democratic congressman to criticize the spending plan.
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