Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded $ 867,400 in grants to fight drug abuse and other crimes in public housing in New Hampshire.

The grants will be distributed to housing authorities for low-income families in the following cities:

• Concord....................$ 79,800
• Dover........................$137,400
• Laconia.................... $ 50,000
• Manchester...............$351,600
• Nashua......................$198,600
• West Lebanon...........$ 50,000

"These grants are good news for some of the poorest families in New Hampshire 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 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.

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.

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, and signed by the President, 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 NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Concord A Drug Elimination Grant of $79,800 will enable the Concord Housing Authority to support stricter law enforcement, Community Policing, and specialized training for use in combating criminal behavior. A Family Support Coordinator will administer PHDEP programs; and a Youth/Outreach Worker will facilitate After School Recreation/Educational Activities. Funding will also support an Active Parenting Program, Outdoor Adventure Program, scholarships for the Boys and Girls Club's Drug Prevention programs and sports/recreational activities.

• Dover $137,400 in Drug Elimination Grant funds will help the Dover Housing Authority provide a comprehensive substance abuse prevention program for residents. The program will bring law enforcement, drug prevention, intervention and treatment "on-site," while promoting educational opportunities for all residents. Program components include structured, activity based youth programs, three-on-three basketball league, Job Start - and employment training program and a Community Based Outreach Program that will target individuals and families with substance abuse issues.

• Laconia A Drug Elimination Grant of $50,000 will allow the Laconia Housing and Redevelopment Authority to undertake a comprehensive security and prevention-based approach to reduce/eliminate drug-related crime in Laconia and the Lakes Region. In partnership with the Laconia Police Department, uniformed officers will patrol the neighborhoods surrounding the Sunrise Towers Public Housing Complex on bikes. Undercover officers will conduct surveillance activities in the neighborhood in order to identify drug dealers and make arrests. For added security, lighting will be enhanced on the exterior of Sunrise Towers and a part-time Resident Facilitator will continue to monitor the Program.

• Manchester $351,600 in Drug Elimination Grant funds will help The Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority implement a multi-faceted program which includes the following components: Continued reimbursement of law enforcement for the employment of two full time community police officers and foot patrols; Physical improvements to enhance security, Drug Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment strategies; Educational and economic opportunities for residents; and a DEP manager, Resident Facilitator, Investigator, Youth Opportunities Specialist and related support staff to administer all of the Public Housing Drug Elimination Grant programs.

• Nashua A Drug Elimination Grant of $198,600 will support a Nashua Housing Authority Public Housing program to empower community residents and fight against drug-related crime with the active support of both the public and private sector. Increased security enables the HA to hire members of the Nashua Police Department to patrol every development each night of the year. Our education, intervention, and prevention programs are conducted through the local Boys and Girls Club, Girls Inc., Nashua Youth Council, and Police Athletic League.

• West Lebanon $50,000 in Drug Elimination Grant funds will enable the Lebanon Housing Authority to act in partnership with five local agencies to provide drug prevention programs for all ages of youth, and counteract the influence of gangs and prevalence of violence at its Romano Circle family public housing development. Programs include increased community police presence; Life Skills training by Lebanon Prevention Partnership; a pre-job volunteer work mentoring program for young teens and job placement assistance for teenagers by Headrest; after school mentoring by the Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College; and Family Support by the Visiting Nurse Alliance.