The Indiana County Housing Authority has for a third time denied Mary Cease’s application for a Section 8 housing voucher because she uses medical marijuana, which is legal under Pennsylvania law but illegal under federal law.
Ms. Cease’s attorney, Judith Cassel, said Tuesday that she intends this week to file an appeal with the Indiana County Court of Common Pleas to overturn the denial.
The final determination may turn on one issue: Is Ms. Cease already a public housing resident or is she a new applicant?
Citing federal law, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development has twice issued guidance memoranda prohibiting admission of new residents to public housing or voucher programs if they use medical marijuana, even if state law allows it.
At a formal hearing Sept. 18 at housing authority offices in Indiana, Ms. Cassel argued that Ms. Cease should be considered a current resident because she now lives in public housing overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Clymer, Indiana County.
The HUD memos, issued in 2011 and 2014, give the federally funded housing authorities discretion on a case-by-case basis to decide whether current residents using medical marijuana can stay in the program.
Executive Director Bonni Dunlap said at the Sept. 18 hearing that they consider Ms. Cease a new applicant because she is new to their program, a position that the hearing officer supported in denying Ms. Cease’s application. Ms. Dunlap declined to comment on the case Tuesday.
Ms. Cease uses medical marijuana to relieve chronic pain from multiple back surgeries and post-traumatic stress from earlier abuse. She has said she hopes to move into Section 8 housing located in a more urban area because of the lack of public transportation and other amenities where she lives now.
The housing authority first denied Ms. Cease’s application in June based on her medical marijuana use, then denied her appeal following an informal hearing July 23 and has now issued a third denial based on testimony at the Sept. 18 formal hearing.
Steve Twedt: stwedt@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1963.
First Published: October 3, 2018, 12:00 p.m.