Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded $12,268,433 in grants to fight drug abuse and other crimes in public housing and HUD-assisted housing in North Carolina.

North Carolina's grants will be distributed to housing authorities and owners of HUD-subsidized housing for low-income families in the following cities:

Albemarle	$160,000	Lincolnton	$75,000
Asheboro	$328,000	Lumberton	$305,700
Asheville	$771,120	Maxton	$50,000
Ayden	$52,500	Monroe	$61,800
Beaufort	$80,000	Morganton	$200,000
Burlington	$110,400	New Bern	$173,700
Chapel Hill	$100,504	NC Indian HA	$76,200
Charlotte	$1,866,804	North Wilkesboro	$108,000
Cherokee	$289,800	Oxford	$84,300
Concord	$102,200	Pembroke	$72,900
Dunn	$50,000	Raleigh	$512,720
Durham	$533,020	Roanoke Rapids	$50,000
Elizabeth City	$99,000	Rockingham	$67,500
Fairmont	$100,000	Rocky Mount	$230,100
Farmville	$52,200	Roxboro	$63,000
Fayetteville	$313,500	Salisbury	$225,600
Forest City	$52,800	Sanford	$133,800
Gastonia	$120,000	Selma	$54,900
Goldsboro	$839,200	Smithfield	$61,500
Greensboro	$646,100	Southern Pines	$50,000
Greenville	$214,200	Statesville	$148,200
Hamlet	$69,000	Thomasville	$78,000
Hendersonville	$116,400	Troy	$50,000
Hertford	$73,400	Washington	$114,870
High Point	$452,730	Wilmington	$386,620
Kinston	$239,700	Winston-Salem	$557,180
Laurinburg	$134,265	Whiteville	$240,000
Lenoir	$50,000

"These grants are good news for some of the poorest families in North 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 that President Clinton's recent signature on 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 housing.

"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 NORTH CAROLINA

• ALBEMARLE: $160,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the City of Albemarle Department of Housing Authority for community policing, educational classes, volunteer resident patrols, after-school tutoring and youth alternative classes.

• ASHEBORO: $100,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Asheboro Housing Authority to hire a private security agency and establish personal development programs for youth and adults. $228,000 from the New Approach Anti-Drug program will go to private landlords of subsidized housing at the Coleridge Road Apartments.

• ASHEVILLE: $771,120 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville to define the needs of targeted areas in public housing developments. A Drug Elimination Advisory Board will be established to devise a comprehensive plan involving residents, police, the housing authority and the community.

• AYDEN: $52,500 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Ayden Housing Authority for programs to add additional full-time police and establish drug education programs.

• BEAUFORT: $80,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Beaufort for drug awareness education programs for youth and assistance to adult residents to help them gain self-sufficiency.

• BURLINGTON: $110,400 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Burlington Housing Authority for programs to fight drugs in public housing with tutoring programs, after-school recreation and Boy Scouts and Girl Scout troops.

• CHAPEL HILL: $100,504 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Chapel Hill Department of Housing and Community Development to hire an investigator and for programs to fight drugs and provide employment services.

• CHARLOTTE: $1,866,804 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Charlotte for physical improvements to enhance security and the implementation of prevention, intervention, and treatment programs.

• CHEROKEE: $289,800 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to Qualla Housing for alternative drug abuse programs.

• CONCORD: $102,200 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the City of Concord Department of Housing to contract with the city police department for the full-time services of a police officer to provide community policing in low-income housing communities.

• DUNN: $50,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Dunn Housing Authority for programs to fight drugs and provide family services.

• DURHAM: $533,020 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Durham for programs to provide job and business preparation coupled with education and family services.

• ELIZABETH CITY: $99,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Elizabeth City Housing Authority to help residents build a drug-free community through law enforcement and drug education programs.

• FAIRMONT: $100,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Fairmont Housing Authority to continue a drug prevention program for residents.

• FARMVILLE: $52,200 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Farmville Housing Authority for programs to hire a resident coordinator and more police.

• FAYETTEVILLE: $313,500 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority for programs to eliminate the sale of illegal drugs and deter criminal activity.

• FOREST CITY: $52,800 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Forest City Housing Authority for comprehensive security and drug education programs.

• GASTONIA: $120,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Gastonia Housing Authority for programs to reduce crime and drug activities in and around public housing.

• GOLDSBORO: $471,700 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Eastern Carolina Regional Housing Authority to make physical improvements and enhance security by implementing prevention, intervention, and treatment programs. Another $367,500 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Goldsboro for law enforcement personnel, physical improvements, drug prevention and intervention programs in six housing developments and surrounding communities.

• GREENSBORO: $646,100 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Greensboro for a comprehensive policing, drug treatment, and preventive-based approach to fighting drugs in five public housing communities.

• GREENVILLE: $214,200 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Greenville to enhance police patrol, cultural activities, tutorial programs and recreational activities.

• HAMLET: $69,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Hamlet Housing Authority for a comprehensive security and preventive-based approach to attack the problem of drug-related crime.

• HENDERSONVILLE: $116,400 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Hendersonville Housing Authority for programs to expand their current drug elimination efforts.

• HERTFORD: $73,400 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Hertford Housing Authority to continue a police substation, police patrols and prevention programs for residents.

• HIGH POINT: $343,720 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of High Point for community policing and for resident training, employment and social service programs. Another $109,010 Drug Elimination Grant for privately-owned multifamily properties will go to Newgate Gardens.

• KINSTON: $239,700 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Kinston to continue and expand their current drug elimination programs, which include community policing and Boys and Girls Clubs.

• LAURINBURG: $134,265 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Laurinburg to bring community resources together in a coordinated continuum of services.

• LENOIR: $50,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Lenoir Housing Authority for programs designed to foster a preventive approach to addressing the problems of drugs and drug-related crime in public housing.

• LINCOLNTON: $75,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Lincolnton Housing Authority for programs to improve security and hire a youth coordinator to work with children.

• LUMBERTON: $219,300 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Lumberton to contract with the city to provide three additional community policing officers. Another grant of $86,400 goes to the Robeson County Department of Housing to continue its approach in "weeding out" drug-related crimes by expanding community policing.

• MAXTON: $50,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Maxton Housing Authority to operate a police substation and to add educational services.

• MONROE: $61,800 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Monroe Housing Authority for programs to heighten security with contracted police patrols.

• MORGANTON: $200,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Morganton Housing Authority to improve security and hire a Drug Coordinator to work with children to provide educational and employment services.

• NEW BERN: $173,700 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of New Bern to operate a comprehensive "weed and seed" strategy to combat drug abuse and crime in the Craven Terrace and Trent Court developments.

• NORTH CAROLINA INDIAN HOUSING AUTHORITY: $76,200 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the North Carolina Indian Housing Authority which will contract with Industrial Loss Prevention, Inc. to provide additional security patrols, and also work in coordination with local law enforcement to reduce crime, drug use and abuse problems.

• NORTH WILKESBORO: $108,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the North Wilkesboro Department of Housing and Community Development to combine prevention and enforcement programs and to continue the Neighborhood Service Center.

• OXFORD: $84,300 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Oxford Housing Authority for programs to incorporate intervention, enforcement and security techniques and to make physical improvements.

• PEMBROKE: $72,900 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Pembroke Housing Authority to provide additional security.

• RALEIGH: $512,720 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Raleigh for programs in 16 communities that include drug prevention, intervention, on-site drug outreach services and off-site drug treatment.

• ROANOKE RAPIDS: $50,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Ahoskie Housing Authority for a comprehensive enforcement, preventive and treatment approach to reduce drugs and drug-related crime.

• ROCKINGHAM: $67,500 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Rockingham Housing Authority for programs to continue a strong police presence and work with children in prevention activities.

• ROCKY MOUNT: $230,100 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Rocky Mount for resident and community police patrols and prevention programs at the Computer Learning Center.

• ROXBORO: $63,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Roxboro Housing Authority to link community anti-drug efforts and increase police patrols.

• SALISBURY: $167,400 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Salisbury to maintain law enforcement services, continue physical improvements and refine drug intervention programs. Another $58,200 goes to the Rowan County Housing Authority to use security patrols and make physical improvements.

• SANFORD: $133,800 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Sanford Housing Authority for programs to improve law enforcement and employ prevention strategies.

• SELMA: $54,900 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Selma Housing Authority to continue an additional full-time police presence in neighborhoods.

• SMITHFIELD: $61,500 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Smithfield Housing Authority to bolster security, educational, training and incentive programs to fight drug-related crime.

• SOUTHERN PINES: $50,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Southern Pines Housing Authority to re-route traffic and providing resident access to economic development opportunities.

• STATESVILLE: $148,200 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Statesville Housing Authority for community police patrols.

• THOMASVILLE: $78,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Thomasville Housing Authority to provide additional law enforcement services.

• TROY: $50,000 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Troy Housing Authority for drug prevention and counseling, job training, educational and recreational programs.

• WASHINGTON: $114,870 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Washington Housing Authority to retain three additional police officers covering the six public housing communities and to make safety and security improvements.

• WILMINGTON: $386,620 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of the City of Wilmington for resident organizations that use strategic educational programs to combat drug involvement among youth and their families.

• WINSTON-SALEM: $557,180 in Drug Elimination Grants will go to the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem to provide prevention programs that emphasize education and lead to sustainable employment.

• WHITEVILLE: $240,000 from the New Approach Anti-Drug program will go to private landlords of subsidized housing at the Columbus Court Apartments.