[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 52 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 52

Expressing the sense of Congress that reducing crime in public housing 
   should be a priority, and that the successful Public Housing Drug 
              Elimination Program should be fully funded.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 21, 2001

  Mr. Corzine, (for himself, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Reid, Mr. Carper, Mr. 
      Schumer, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Bayh, Mr. 
  Rockefeller, Ms. Collins, Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Cleland, Ms. 
 Cantwell, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Torricelli, and Mr. Kerry) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
          the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress that reducing crime in public housing 
   should be a priority, and that the successful Public Housing Drug 
              Elimination Program should be fully funded.

Whereas while various public housing developments suffer from serious crime 
        problems, many have made significant progress in reducing crime through 
        initiatives funded by the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program 
        (PHDEP);
Whereas PHDEP was first established in 1988 under former President George Bush 
        and the former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban 
        Development, Jack Kemp, and has enjoyed strong bipartisan support since 
        its inception;
Whereas PHDEP funds a wide variety of anticrime initiatives, that include--
            (1) the employment of security personnel and investigators;
            (2) the reimbursement of local law enforcement agencies for 
        additional security;
            (3) drug education and prevention, intervention, and treatment 
        programs;
            (4) voluntary resident patrols; and
            (5) physical improvements designed to enhance security, including 
        fences and cameras;
Whereas PHDEP has successfully enabled housing authorities to work cooperatively 
        with residents, local officials, police departments, community groups, 
        Boys and Girls Clubs, drug counseling centers, and other community-based 
        organizations to develop locally-supported anticrime initiatives;
Whereas the Internet web site of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
        has stated that the program's ``success is rooted in the fact that the 
        people respond better and become more involved in something they have 
        helped to build'';
Whereas in addition to providing direct funding for anticrime initiatives, PHDEP 
        has helped housing authorities leverage funding from other sources that 
        might otherwise be unavailable, such as funding from local banks, Rotary 
        and Kiwanis Clubs, and private foundations;
Whereas a portion of funding allocated to the PHDEP is also used to reduce crime 
        in privately-owned, publicly assisted housing, and assisted housing on 
        Indian reservations, which also can suffer from serious crime problems;
Whereas the Internet web site of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
        has pointed out that ``in several of the Nation's largest public housing 
        authorities--largest in terms of unit size--the rate of crime has fallen 
        since the mid-1990's, even though the crime rate in the respective 
        surrounding communities increased. And we know that crime levels in many 
        housing authorities are dropping, in both absolute and percentage terms. 
        These are merely the successes that we can measure. There are many more 
        that are simply immeasurable.'';
Whereas Congress has recognized the success of the PHDEP by increasing program 
        funding from $8,200,000 in fiscal year 1989 to $310,000,000 in fiscal 
        year 2001;
Whereas evicting residents who engage in unlawful activity can help reduce 
        crime, but much of the crime in public housing is perpetrated by 
        nonresidents, and evictions must be supplemented by the more 
        comprehensive anticrime approach supported by the PHDEP;
Whereas public housing authorities could use operating subsidies to fund some 
        anticrime initiatives under applicable law, but those subsidies are 
        based on a formula that does not account for PHDEP eligible activities 
        and are inadequate to fund most of the anticrime initiatives supported 
        by the program, and PHDEP has the added advantage of requiring public 
        housing authorities to develop and implement anticrime plans with the 
        support and participation of residents and local communities, which has 
        proved critical in ensuring the effectiveness of such plans;
Whereas while, as with any program of its size, there have been reports of 
        isolated problems, PHDEP generally has been well run and free of the 
        widespread abuses that have plagued other housing programs in the past, 
        in part because of the broad participation of residents and local 
        communities, and because the program has required housing authorities to 
        provide comprehensive plans before receiving funds, and complete reports 
        on their progress;
Whereas during the process leading to his confirmation, the Secretary of the 
        Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mel Martinez, stated in a 
        written response to a question posed by Senator Jon S. Corzine that, 
        ``HUD's Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, PHDEP, supports a wide 
        variety of efforts by public and Indian housing authorities to reduce or 
        eliminate drug-related crime in public housing developments. Based on 
        this core purpose, I certainly support the program.'';
Whereas PHDEP is critical not only to millions of public and assisted housing 
        residents, most of whom are hard working, law abiding citizens, but also 
        to surrounding communities, residents of which also suffer if 
        neighboring housing developments are plagued with high rates of crime; 
        and
Whereas continued funding of PHDEP would demonstrate that the Nation is serious 
        about maintaining its commitment to reducing the problem of crime in 
        public housing: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) reducing crime in public housing should be a priority; 
        and
            (2) the successful Public Housing Drug Elimination Program 
        should be fully funded.
                                 <all>