The Nation - News from March 29, 1989

Mayor James P. Moran said Alexandria, Va., will begin evicting suspected drug dealers from public housing now that the city has become the first in the country to be exempted from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s grievance procedures. Moran said the city would pursue evictions in cases where they have evidence of criminal activity either being committed or condoned by the leaseholder. In a shoot-out at an Alexandria public housing development last week, a police officer and a gunman, who had entered a building to demand crack cocaine, were killed, and a second officer was wounded. Without the exemption, HUD rules permit appeals for tenants threatened with evictions.