Rucker

Opinion by Judge O’SCANNLAIN; Dissent by Judge FLETCHER.

We must decide whether a local public housing agency may evict a tenant on the basis of drug-related criminal activity engaged in by a household member on or near the premises regardless of whether the tenant was personally aware of such activity.

I

Established in 1937, the first public housing program was intended to assist states and localities in providing affordable housing to low-income families. See Pub.L. No. 75-412, 50 Stat. 888 (1937). The Housing Act of 1937 vested responsibility for managing, maintaining, and operating public housing developments in local public housing agencies (“PHAs”) rather than in the federal government. See 42 U.S.C. § 1437 . Over 3,192 local PHAs currently oversee the 1,326,224 public housing units that are home to over 3 million people. See U.S. Dep’t of Hous. & Urban Dev., “One Strike and You’re Out”: Policy in Public Housing 3 (1996); Office of Policy Dev. & Research, U.S. Dep’t of Hous. & Urban Dev., A Picture of Subsidized Households, Volume 11, United States: Large Projects & Agencies 14, 72 (1996); Michael H. Schill, Distressed Public Housing: Where Do We Go From Here?, 60 U. Chi.…

dissenting:

This case involves the attempted eviction of four tenants and their families from public housing in Oakland, California. Ap-pellee Pearlie Rucker is a 63 year-old woman who has lived in public housing for 13 years. She currently lives with her mentally disabled daughter, her two grandchildren, and her great-grandchild. Appellants assert as a ground for her eviction that Ms. Rucker’s mentally disabled daughter possessed cocaine three blocks from her apartment. Ms. Rucker regularly searches her daughter’s room for evidence of drug activity and has warned her and others that drug activity in the apartment could result in their eviction. Appel-lee Willie Lee is a 71 year-old man who has lived in Oakland public housing for 25 years. He currently lives with his grandson. Appellants assert as a ground for his eviction that Mr. Lee’s grandson possessed marijuana in a parking lot of the housing complex. Appellants do not allege that Mr. Lee had any knowledge of his grandson’s marijuana possession. Appellee Barbara Hill is a 63 year-old woman who has lived in the same public housing apartment for 30 years. Like Mr. Lee, she currently lives with her grandson. Appellants assert…