Lopez at Signing of ‘One-Strike’ Law
Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez attended the White House signing of an executive order Thursday that calls for evicting any public-housing tenant who commits a violent or drug-related crime.
President Clinton ordered the so-called “one-strike-and-you’re-out” rule, citing a need to make public housing safer. Under the policy, a tenant could be booted out of a residence for committing such a crime or even for allowing a guest to commit it.
“I don’t think it is a major problem in Oxnard,” Lopez said in a phone interview from Washington.
“But one thing is that people feel intimidated when others are using drugs.”
Tenants facing eviction under the directive would be granted hearings and a court would have to sanction the ouster.
Lopez said that Oxnard oversees about 780 units of public housing. He said mayors from cities such as Atlanta and Baltimore also attended the signing. Some cities, he added, have more than 180,000 public-housing units.
“We are kind of small potatoes,” Lopez said.
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