23536
Bluelight Crew
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Sandy Douglas said she has no idea where she will be living after this week. Douglas, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and her 11-year old daughter won't be able to afford the apartment they've lived in for several years. They've lost their government housing subsidy, commonly called a Section 8 grant after the part of the law that created it.
They lost it because of what Douglas' 20-year-old son did.
He was convicted of cocaine posession. Because he was on the lease for her apartment, the Grand Rapids Housing Commission - which administered her rent subsidy - revoked it because her son was busted for drugs.
"I kept saying, 'I'm not responsible for my son. He's 20,'" Douglas told Target 8 investigators.
But the Housing Commission takes a hard line on drug offenses. "Anybody on the lease, if caught, would automatically be terminated," Director Carlos Sanchez said. "We are mandated by the federal government not to serve people involved in drug-related activity."
But the issue of fairness has been raised across the country. Some have suggested that ending rent supplements for entire households related to someone busted for drugs amounts to a kind of guilt-by-association.
"I told them it wasn't fair," Douglas said. "It's not right."
She said her son was busted somewhere else in the city and was only living with her part of the time.
But the Grand Rapids Housing Commission chose to take a hard line that wipes out the rent subsidy for the entire household. "To us it is the household," said Sanchez.
full: http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/target_8/Sons-drug-bust-may-make-mom-homeless
They lost it because of what Douglas' 20-year-old son did.
He was convicted of cocaine posession. Because he was on the lease for her apartment, the Grand Rapids Housing Commission - which administered her rent subsidy - revoked it because her son was busted for drugs.
"I kept saying, 'I'm not responsible for my son. He's 20,'" Douglas told Target 8 investigators.
But the Housing Commission takes a hard line on drug offenses. "Anybody on the lease, if caught, would automatically be terminated," Director Carlos Sanchez said. "We are mandated by the federal government not to serve people involved in drug-related activity."
But the issue of fairness has been raised across the country. Some have suggested that ending rent supplements for entire households related to someone busted for drugs amounts to a kind of guilt-by-association.
"I told them it wasn't fair," Douglas said. "It's not right."
She said her son was busted somewhere else in the city and was only living with her part of the time.
But the Grand Rapids Housing Commission chose to take a hard line that wipes out the rent subsidy for the entire household. "To us it is the household," said Sanchez.
full: http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/target_8/Sons-drug-bust-may-make-mom-homeless
