Somehow in the eyes of lawmakers this is correct, but if it were a former sex offender lawmakers think otherwise. Life presents us with many situations and often they are not understandable; this is one!4-12-2011 Virginia:
If Bruce Williams had ever manufactured methamphetamines, he would not have been allowed to live at Effingham Plaza, a public housing complex for senior citizens and disabled residents.
Likewise, he would have been banned for life if he were a registered sex offender.
But the fact that Williams strangled a woman in 1990 did not prevent him from living at the complex.
Last week, he was charged with the stabbing death of Linda Gay Carroll, 64, one of his neighbors in the apartment building, near the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. She was found dead in her bedroom Feb. 25.
Police say Williams is also a suspect in the March 6 stabbing death of Gloria M. Johnson, 47, who was found dead in the roadway of Wilcox Avenue. He has not been charged in that crime. The two victims knew each other, according to police.
A judge has ordered a psychological evaluation of Williams, and his next court date is May 20, records show.
The Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority bans from its public complexes residents who have been convicted of violent criminal activities or felony drug charges in the past eight years, spokeswoman Kathy Warren said.
Those who have manufactured meth or are registered sex offenders are permanently banned, as mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The agency gives cities some discretion in admitting residents who have been involved in other criminal activity.
Williams' homicide conviction came in 1991, when he pleaded guilty in Norfolk to second-degree murder in the death of Kathy Uzzle.
She was strangled with a belt and stuffed into the trunk of a car, according to court records.
Williams was sentenced to serve 14 years but apparently was released in half that time: Online court records show he was arrested in 1998 and again in 2004 on probation violations in Norfolk. In both instances, he was given time to serve.
Now 51, he had been living among senior citizens and disabled residents in Effingham Plaza for less than a year.
Warren said that after Williams was charged in Carroll's death, housing authority staff members pulled their records to see whether they'd missed anything on him.
They didn't, she said.
"We did all the background checks," she said.
Neither Williams' murder conviction nor his probation violations landed him in a category that would ban him from the complex, she said.
She said the authority's occupancy policy is the same for all its public housing and is approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"Based on HUD guidelines and direction, we put the most stringent occupancy policies in place that we can," she said. "In many cases, subsidized housing is housing of last resort."
She said the authority is reviewing its policy.
"But everything that was done in this case, based on our review, was done in accordance with HUD-approved policies," she said.
There is security on-site, she said, including guards at night. "This is typically a quiet community, a close-knit community," she said.
Residents of the two four-story buildings must be 62 or older to qualify for housing there, unless they are disabled.
Warren said she could not comment on the disability that made Williams eligible for residency.
Sandra Cofield, president of the Effingham Plaza tenant council, said residents are upset about what has happened and have talked about security at the complex.
"We talk about different people coming in and the change of people coming in," she said.
Leroy Boone, 83, treasurer of the tenant council, said that once old public housing neighborhoods were razed, he began to see residents known to be involved with drugs move in to Effingham Plaza.
"We are concerned," Boone said. "They're moving people over here that's capable of anything.
"They tell us they can't discriminate, but this is supposed to be a place for the elderly." ..Source.. by Janie Bryant, The Virginian-Pilot
