Nation : Kemp Defends HUD’s Drug Fight

WASHINGTON — HUD Secretary Jack Kemp said today that fighting drugs in public housing ranks in importance with repair and modernization of units, as hundreds of residents gathered outside the White House to protest the lack of federal money for construction and rehabilitation.

Kemp also said that, if given flexibility in allocating the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s public housing budget and additional money specifically earmarked for anti-drug efforts, he could make “a significant attack” on the problem. “The anti-drug effort in public housing is as important a part of modernization and rehabilitation in public housing as anything else,” he told the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.