Woman loses subsidized apt over med pot

SPARTA, Mich. (WOOD) - Kathy Heller has been packing up.  She's moving next week into another Sparta apartment with a roommate because she can no longer afford to pay the rent by herself.

Heller lost her $600 a month federal rent subsidy because she has a Michigan medical marijuana card.  She gets a $700 a month disability income.

Heller said she has a degenerative disc disease and that smoking pot has gotten her off a list of prescription meds she was taking for pain.

She voluntarily told the Wyoming Housing Commission about her medical pot card last summer. She didn't have to but she told Target 8 investigators she likes to be up front about everything.

Her Section 8 housing subsidy is administered by the Wyoming Housing Commission and it takes a hard line on drug use.  

When Target 8 Investigators first looked into it , Housing Commission Director Rebecca Geerling said, "We're federally funded and federal rules, pretty much, govern what our agency does."

Heller appealed.

Her Legal Aid attorney, Maureen Gottlieb, argued that federal regulations actually give local housing agencies leeway, and cites a Housing and Urban Development memo she said requires housing agencies to "take into account the alternative for housing that the participant would have if the voucher were terminated, the medical condition and the benefit to the housing authority for terminating the voucher."

A hearing officer agreed the Wyoming Housing Commission's "blanket policy that any violation of federal drug laws will result in termination...is not consistent with the Code of Federal Regulations..."   

Hearing officer Naeha Leys said, "Simply put, each case should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis."

But that didn't get Heller's subsidy reinstated.  

Leys concluded that "a preponderance of evidence" is the standard to be used in reviewing the decision. "Is it more likely than not that there is a violation of the Federal, State, local law or administrative plan that would require termination."

She concluded that Heller "is in violation of the administrative policy due to the violation of federal law" in using pot and says the agency "may" revoke her subsidy.

Attorney Gottlieb said, "To be generous, it's internally inconsistent. And essentially that tells the Wyoming Housing Commission what it's doing is wrong and that they can keep on doing it."

The hearing officer also found fault with the Wyoming Housing Commission's hearing policy. Under it, the agency terminates subsidies while the participants appeal.

"You can't take away someone's benefit without going through due process," Gottlieb told Target 8.  

The hearing officer agreed, ordering the agency to pay two months of Heller's back rent while her appeal was pending.

But Gottlieb said the Wyoming Housing Commission continues to take away subisidies during appeals, putting clients at risk of eviction before their appeals are heard.  She said she has heard from the WHC that it is going to change that policy, but not for several months.

The Wyoming Housing Commission did not respond to a request for comment from Target 8 investigators.