Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded $ 4,732,017 in grants to fight drug abuse and other crimes in public housing and HUD-assisted housing in South Carolina. South Carolina's grants will be distributed to housing authorities and owners of HUD-subsidized housing for low-income families in the following cities:

• Abbeville ------- $ 212,045
• Aiken ------- $ 117,000
• Anderson ------- $ 83,600
• Barnwell ------- $ 499,500
• Beaufort ------- $ 173,450
• Charleston ------- $ 344,924
• Columbia ------- $ 487,860
• Conway ------- $ 78,000
• Florence ------- $ 370,975
• Fort Mill ------- $ 50,000
• Gaffney ------- $ 219,200
• Greenville ------- $ 430,304
• Hartsville ------- $ 112,125
• Laurens ------- $ 749,694
• North Charleston $ 226,700
• Rock Hill ------- $ 110,700
• Spartanburg ------- $ 401,440
• York ------- $ 64,500

"These grants are good news for some of the poorest families in South Carolina and bad news for drug dealers who terrorize them," Cuomo said. "We will fight drug abuse with prevention and treatment programs and with a crackdown on drug dealers and other criminals. We are telling drug dealers in HUD housing to find another line of work or be sent to another type of subsidized housing - a prison cell."

Cuomo said the Department's $24.5 billion budget for the 1999 fiscal year, which he called "the best HUD budget in 10 years," will speed the transformation of public and assisted

"HUD is transforming public housing from isolated ghettos of poverty, drugs, despair and crime into safe and economically integrated communities of opportunity," Cuomo said.

Nationwide, HUD is awarding $305.2 million in Drug Elimination Grants this year - more than in any previous year. The grants will be distributed in the next several weeks in this way: $280.6 million to 749 public housing authorities; $8 million to 39 Indian Tribes; and $16.6 million to 143 privately owned housing developments that receive HUD assistance.

Another 53 privately-owned HUD-subsidized low-income housing developments will receive a total of $11.7 million from a similar program called the New Approach Anti-Drug Program.

Vice President Al Gore, Cuomo and Attorney General Janet Reno announced a four-part enforcement and prevention strategy to fight crime and drugs in public housing in June 1997. The grants announced today are one element of that strategy.

The Drug Elimination Grants are awarded on a competitive basis, based on the seriousness of the drug and crime problem facing a housing authority or assisted housing development, and the strength of local plans to address the problem. About 900 housing authorities, 60 Indian tribes and 500 privately owned housing developments applied for the grants being awarded this year.

HUD has awarded more than $1.6 billion in Drug Elimination Grants since 1989, including the grants being awarded this year.

In public housing, the Drug Elimination Grants are used for: drug prevention, intervention and treatment programs; reimbursing law enforcement agencies for providing additional security; hiring security guards and investigators; resident anti-crime patrols; and physical improvements to housing developments to enhance security - such as fencing, lighting and improved locks.

In assisted housing, the Drug Elimination Grants are used for: drug prevention and education programs; referrals to drug treatment and counseling; and physical improvements to developments to enhance security. Individual grants for assisted housing developments are limited to a maximum of $125,000.

The New Approach Anti-Drug Program (formerly known as the Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program) provides funds for improving security at HUD-assisted developments and in surrounding neighborhoods by: hiring security guards, paying for extra police patrols, assisting in the investigation and prosecution of drug-related criminal activity, and implementing security-related physical improvements.

HUD's budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 increases funding for HUD's key programs and renewals of Section 8 rental assistance by a total of more than $2 billion in the budget over 1998 levels. Spending was increased on most HUD programs and wasn't cut in any programs.

Legislation passed in the same bill as HUD's budget will:

• Transform public housing by reducing segregation by race and income, encouraging and rewarding work, bringing more working families into public housing, and increasing the availability of subsidized housing for very poor families. In addition, the bill improves living conditions in public housing, gives the poorest families neighbors who will be role models of working families, and reduces crime. The bill also allows HUD to continue to tear down the largest failed public housing projects and replace them with new townhouse-style developments.

• Expand the supply of affordable housing by enabling 90,000 more families to get Section 8 rental assistance vouchers that will subsidize their rents in privately owned apartments - the first increase in vouchers in four years.

• Increase homeownership by raising the limit on home mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration from the current range of $86,317 in low-cost housing areas to $170,362 in high-cost areas. The bill increases the loan limits to a range of $109,032 in low-cost areas to $197,621 in high-cost areas. The higher ceiling on FHA-insured home mortgages opens the door of homeownership to thousands of families needing FHA insurance to get mortgages, but locked out now because the current loan limits have not kept pace with rising home prices.

HUD ANTI-DRUG ASSISTANCE FOR COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Abbeville

• $212,045 from the New Approach Anti-Drug Program will go to build a community center/substation at Hickory Heights Apts., which will be utilized as a learning resource center as well as a substation for security guards and local law enforcement agencies.

Aiken

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $117,000 to the Aiken Housing Authority will help undertake a comprehensive security and preventive-based approach to reduce/eliminate crimes in local developments. The Community Policing Program will be used to combat drug-related crimes in the developments. Prevention programs will offer youth and adult residents the opportunity to build skills to resist drugs and/or related activity.

Anderson

• Drug Elimination Grant funds of $83,600 will help the Anderson Housing Authority plan the 3R's (Reduce the Risk for Residents), a comprehensive strategy of increased law enforcement and prevention activities to decrease illegal drug activity, drug-related crime, and other criminal activities.

Barnwell

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $263,700 will assist the South Carolina Regional Housing Authority No.3 to contract community policing. The Authority will hire a Drug Elimination Coordinator. The Authority will also contract with the City of Orangeburg to provide Drug Treatment programs.

• Drug Elimination Grant funds of $235,800 also will allow the South Carolina Regional Housing Authority No.3 to install fences to keep out unwanted trespassers and install high visibility apartment numbers to allow the police to find apartments in an emergency situation. The Authority will hire a Drug Elimination Coordinator.

Beaufort

• Drug Elimination Grant funds totaling $173,450 will be used by the Beaufort Housing Authority for a comprehensive security and preventive-based approach to reduce/eliminate drug-related crime in its public housing communities.

Charleston

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $344,924 will allow the Housing Authority of Charleston to increase law enforcement and drug prevention activities to attack the problem of drug-related crime.

Columbia

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $487,860 will go to the Columbia Housing Authority, which will continue to provide family and other support services in an effort to assist public housing families get ready for the world of work. The Authority finds that meeting the needs of the whole family leads to a stable home environment which in turn assists to eliminate many of the risk factors associated with drugs and crime.

Conway

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $78,000 will help the Housing Authority of Conway to use the latest techniques to deter and prevent drug-related activities. The Housing Authority will contract with city of Conway Police Department for one police officer for four nights per week for 104 weeks with varying schedules for the duration of the Project. In addition, the Housing Authority will implement a comprehensive program to provide various youth and adult services. The primary focus of the programs will be to provide drug education workshops, GED classes and to promote family activities.

Florence

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $338,700 will allow the Florence Housing Authority to continue its comprehensive crime prevention and security program, which includes state certified off-duty police patrols, neighborhood security sub-stations, drug prevention/intervention activities. An intensive drug prevention, intervention and treatment program will be implemented through a contractual agreement with Marlboro Counseling and Drug Treatment Center for residents.

• $32,275 from the New Approach Anti-Drug program will be used for the Mt. Zion AME Apartments #2 to establish an array of programs to combat drug-related activities in its developments. The ultimate goal is to reduce/eliminate drug-related crimes and increase the quality of life for the residents and surrounding community.

Fort Mill

• Through a Drug Elimination Grant of $50,000, the Housing Authority of Fort Mill will implement a comprehensive security and preventive based approach to reduce/eliminate drug related crimes.

Gaffney

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $137,000 will go to the Gaffney Housing Authority for a comprehensive drug elimination plan that takes into account best practices in prevention and intervention services.

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $82,200 will allow the Housing Authority to contract for supplemental law enforcement over and above baseline services and contracting for security guard personnel services.

Greenville

• Drug Elimination Grants totaling $333,840 will fund the drug elimination plan of the Housing Authority of the city of Greenville, which will use a comprehensive security and preventive approach to reduce/eliminate drug-related crime.

• $96,464 will be used to reduce drugs and eliminate drug-related crimes in City Heights, a Greenville multifamily housing development. The funds will be used for the continuation of their Girl Scout and Boy Scout programs, after-school tutorial program, computer lab, job interview and resume writing training, drug prevention programs, youth sports activities, and a staff resource center.

Hartsville

• $112,125 from the New Approach Anti-Drug program will be used for the Swift Creek Apartments and surrounding neighborhood that will include an array of programs to combat drug-related activities. Activities will focus on law enforcement and drug prevention. Specific activities include drug awareness and self improvement programs and the hiring of off-duty police officers.

Laurens

• Drug Elimination Grant funds totaling $749,694 will allow the South Carolina Regional Housing Authority No.1 to use a comprehensive approach to eradicate drugs and their associated crime through the use of educational and preventive programs.

North Charleston

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $115,268 will help the North Charleston Housing Authority implement a comprehensive program of activities designed to eliminate drug-related crime.

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $111,432 will fund a program that includes contracted security guards to patrol public housing developments, a Drug Awareness education program based on HUD's "One Strike and You're Out", Occupancy policy, and a family/domestic relations counseling program.

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $110,700 will enable the Housing Authority of the city of Rock Hill to continue to partner with the Boys & Girls Club of Rock Hill and to continue to provide security in its targeted communities.

Spartanburg

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $401,440 will go to the Housing Authority of the city of Spartanburg for a program that includes education, prevention and intervention. The program creates an alternative to drugs and drug-related criminal behavior.

York

• A Drug Elimination Grant of $64,500 will enable the Housing Authority of the city of York to implement a comprehensive security and preventive-based approach to reduce/eliminate drug-related crimes.