{
  "id": "RS21199",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RS21199",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 103045,
      "date": "2002-04-15",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:11:54.016941",
      "title": "No-fault Eviction of Public Housing Tenants for Illegal Drug Use: A Legal Analysis of Department of Housing and Urban Development v. Rucker",
      "summary": "In  Department of Housing and Urban Development v. Rucker , the Supreme Court\nunanimously\napproved provisions of the 1988 Drug Abuse Act enacted by Congress in response to \"rampant drug-\nrelated or violent crime\" in public housing projects. Specifically, the law allows for no-fault evictions\nof public housing tenants by mandating the use of lease provisions, which state that \"any drug-related\ncriminal activity on or off such premises, engaged in by a public housing tenant, any member of the\ntenant's household, or any guest or other person under the tenant's control, shall be cause for\ntermination of tenancy.\" While public housing authorities have discretion under HUD regulations to\nevict or not based on the totality of circumstances in any individual case, agency rules also make clear\nthat evictions are permitted even when the \"tenant did not know, could not foresee, or could not\ncontrol behavior by other occupants of the unit.\" The Supreme Court relied on the plain language\nof the provision to uphold the statute and perceived no unreasonableness in this interpretation nor any\nconstitutional problems raised as a consequence. \"[T]here is an obvious reason why Congress would\nhave permitted local public housing authorities to conduct no-fault evictions,\" wrote the Chief Justice\nof the HUD regulations, since \"[r]egardless of knowledge, a tenant who 'cannot control drug crime,\nor other criminal activities by a household member which threaten health or safety of other residents,\nis a threat to other residents and the project.'\"",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Constitutional Questions"
  ]
}