THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140226
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 83 lines
Commissioners for the city's housing authority on Monday approved the ``social lease'' for public housing tenants.
The recently revised document that calls for 20 hours a year of community service from able-bodied, unemployed residents passed by a vote of 5-to-1 over the objections of City Councilman Paul Riddick, who made a rare visit to commissioners to urge rejection of what he said was an ``intrusion'' of government into the lives of people.
The dissenting vote was by Commissioner Joshua Paige.
Before giving her nod, Commissioner Shirley Freeman asked for and got assurance that community service would not be mandatory.
``It's up to residents? Not mandatory?'' Freeman asked.
``That is correct,'' replied Ray Strutton, housing administrator for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Some tenant leaders say they believe they are being duped. They think that ``agree to contribute'' is the same as a requirement when it comes to signing a contract. And they fear that while residents would not be evicted for noncompliance, their leases might not be renewed.
Helen Shober, NRHA public affairs manager, clarified the issue late Monday.
``There is no penalty if they don't contribute'' the 20 hours a year, she said. ``It's an opportunity to talk at lease-renewal time'' about the family and its situation. And NRHA will not refuse to renew leases on that basis alone, Shober said. ``Of course, the hope is still there'' that tenants will volunteer.
Changes made to the social lease eliminate terms such as ``required'' and ``mandatory'' in favor of a clause that says failure to do the community service will not be sole grounds for eviction or lease nonrenewal.
The NRHA has been at odds with some public housing residents since proposing the lease addendum in October. Agency officials said community service would help tenants ``improve the social and economic state of their lives,'' but some tenants said that while they favored more volunteerism, they opposed making it mandatory. They likened it to slavery and the kind of penalties imposed on criminals.
New public housing residents will be asked to sign the lease beginning Feb. 1, and current tenants will be asked to put their names to it when their leases come up for renewal beginning in July.
About 50 citizens attended Monday's meeting but were not allowed to speak.
``This is not a public hearing,'' commission Chairman Doyle Hull told them.
There has been disagreement on how well-informed the commissioners have been on tenant opposition to the lease. Strutton advised them last week that he had received 17 written responses during a public comment period. He said about five were for, 12 against.
But Arlene Barber, president of the Diggs Town Tenant Management Corp., said Friday that she had delivered petitions objecting to the implementation of the social lease that were signed by at least 600 residents of Diggs Town and Roberts Village. She took the petitions to NRHA offices before Dec. 27. Barber also said housing officials have in hand 123 individually signed letters from Diggs Town residents detailing their objections.
However, NRHA's assistant executive director, Andrea Bear, would not confirm that the authority has received the petitions. And Strutton said Friday that he had not included petitioners in a summation to commissioners because no one in his office had counted them or verified that they were signed by Norfolk citizens.
In any case, none of the commissioners on Monday asked about public comment, and Strutton did not mention the petitions during Monday's board meeting.
Councilman Riddick described the social lease as ``another form of bureaucratic and government intrusion. Don't go into the homes of individuals and intrude,'' he said, at which the standing-room-only crowd burst into applause.
Commissioner Paige said he was ``shocked that we as a community can't see that this is an encroachment upon privacy. Once you give up one thing in liberty, the rest will be taken from you. Fear is reigning in public housing. all of us.''
But NRHA Executive Director David Rice said, ``The whole environment of public housing is changing. With welfare changes, they will have to find jobs, training. If they don't, food stamps and welfare payments will be at risk. It's been misinterpreted as conspiratorial, nefarious. Rather, it's a partnership.''
Said Commissioner Freeman, ``We need to start somewhere.''
KEYWORDS: NRHA NORFOLK SOCIAL LEASE PUBLIC HOUSING
VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY SERVICE