3 Residents Sue Over Housing Rule

Claiming they were required to sign a lease agreement that violated their civil rights, three residents of a Venice development sued a local management company and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday, the ACLU said.

The women said they refused to sign a provision that they could be evicted from Holiday Venice Properties if anyone in their household or any guest was involved in a crime within three blocks of the development, which actually comprises 15 buildings spread across Venice.

A federal directive, signed by President Clinton and dubbed the “one-strike rule,” requires local housing authorities to create similar agreements in order to stem rampant crime in federally subsidized housing projects. But the women’s attorneys say the agreement their clients were asked to sign is broader than prescribed by the federal directive.

“To our knowledge, this is the first case to challenge, on constitutional grounds, the wrong-headed application of HUD’s ‘One strike and you’re out’ policy,” said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Daniel Tokaji.

The plaintiffs say that although they wholeheartedly support and work toward creating a crime-free development, they do not believe they should be held responsible for someone else’s crimes.

“I’ve lived in Holiday Park for 20 years,” said Pamela Anderson, 48, at a news conference. “I don’t believe in being responsible for the acts of people after they leave my home.”

She and fellow residents Phyllis Des Verney, 42, and Bonnie Holmes, 30, have been threatened with eviction Dec. 1 for not signing the agreement, they said. Anderson has worked as a drug counselor at the Venice Teen Post, she said. Des Verney said she is a former building manager at the properties who risked her life to prevent crimes.

The trio sought legal help from the ACLU, which filed the suit against Alliance Housing Management Co., operator of the development, and HUD, which approved the agreement, Tokaji said.

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Alliance Housing authorities were unavailable to comment Friday afternoon. HUD officials said they had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it.

The ACLU attorneys said that although they were only targeting Alliance’s agreement, they were suing HUD because the department had approved the Venice firm’s provision at issue and possibly required it. The federal directive mandates that tenants be held accountable for their guests, said HUD spokesman Alex Sachs in Washington.

“We’re asking the court to decide that this lease addendum (by Alliance) is illegal and violates the Constitution,” said attorney Rocio Cordoba.

The two lawyers said the law violates constitutional rights of free association and due process of law by holding a person accountable for the actions of someone else. The attorneys added that a tenant accused of a crime could be evicted despite never being convicted.

“Even if you’re acquitted, you could be thrown out,” Tokaji said.

He added that Alliance’s agreement differed from what Washington mandated. The federal directive says crimes warranting eviction need only occur in or near one’s home, but the Alliance agreement specifies “within three blocks,” Tokaji said.

Other housing projects in Los Angeles are writing lease provisions to abide by the federal directive. Hubert Taylor, manager of Avalon Gardens in South-Central, said he will implement an agreement that would make tenants accountable for crimes committed by guests only while in the development.

He added, however, that what a nonresident does outside the private property of the development will not warrant eviction.

“When they get off the grounds, we don’t have any control,” he said.

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Taylor said that, too often, tenants facilitate crime by offering shelter from law enforcement.

Whereas the federal directive specifies which crimes would lead to an eviction, the Alliance agreement does not, said Tokaji, who called the company’s wording unconstitutionally vague.