[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 16, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         INTRODUCTION OF THE SENIOR CITIZEN HOUSING SAFETY ACT

  (Mr. BLUTE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLUTE. Mr. Speaker, senior citizens in America are now living in 
fear. Not just because of crime on the streets, but because of crime in 
their own homes--public senior housing.
  When this House changed Federal law to allow young drug and alcohol 
abusers into senior housing facilities, we brought terror into the 
everyday lives of elderly Americans across the country who deserve to 
live out their retirements in peace.
  Not only are our parents and grandparents subjected to loud music and 
all-night parties, they are being shaken down for loans, harassed, 
robbed, assaulted, and raped. Police who have never had to respond to a 
call at a senior housing building in 10 years now find themselves there 
on a regular basis.
  We need to change this law which allows former drug and alcohol 
abusers to be defined as disabled and given priority for senior 
housing.
  I have introduced a bill, the Senior Citizen Housing Safety Act which 
would keep people with current or past problems with substance abuse 
out of public housing where elderly people reside.
  We should provide treatment for drug and alcohol abusers and give 
them housing in appropriate facilities. We should not penalize older 
Americans who have worked hard, served this country, and paid taxes all 
their lives by making them live with this type of abuse.

                          ____________________