Workers living in public housing in Camden and Paterson, New Jersey, are among the first to be affected. Public housing officials in Paterson said their plan for implementing the law must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by January 16.

The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. president William Clinton on Oct. 21, 1998, affects 3,700 public housing authorities in the United States. The law mandates implementation of the community service requirement this fiscal year.

"Every adult resident of public housing will be required to perform eight hours of community service each month, or participate in a self-sufficiency program for at least eight hours each month," the law states. It exempts workers who are employed, elderly and disabled persons, Section 8 recipients, as well as residents exempted from work requirements under state "welfare-to-work" programs.

Some of the work-for-no-pay jobs include participating in "crime watch" teams, doing building and grounds maintenance, and staffing day-care centers.

The measure has provoked opposition from residents and tenant rights organizations in Camden, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. In New York, one group of people living in public housing said they planned to urge other tenants to boycott volunteer service.

"What will they do, put us in the street?" asked Jessieta White, tenant association president of the Roosevelt Manor housing complex in Camden. She said the housing law was another example of the government pressing down on "the lowest members of the totem pole."

Other provisions in the law include barring applicants for three years from federally assisted housing because of alleged "drug crimes" or "alcohol abuse." Those who are convicted as "sex offenders" are also excluded from public housing assistance.

This assault on subsidized housing is championed by a conservative group called the United Taxpayers of New Jersey. "At the very least [jobless residents] should be able to give something back to that particular community if they are able to work," said Samuel Perelli, chairman of the organization.

The 1998 housing law was among a package of "reforms" placed on the books by the Clinton administration together with the Republican-controlled Congress that are aimed at gutting the social wage working people won through decades of struggle. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act eliminated Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which was part of the 1935 Social Security Act. Millions more will be dropped from the welfare rolls this year as a result of this "welfare reform" law.  
 
 
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