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An Elkhart, Indiana, resident who is a beneficiary of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assistance is poised to lose his benefits on Jan. 31 after disclosing on a form that he had ingested marijuana a single time, according to local reporting by a South Bend-based NBC affiliate.
This will cause him to lose his home in a few months’ time, he said. The housing authority that processed the application said its hands are tied because of the disclosure and the state’s stance on marijuana use, which it applies to HUD assistance programs.
Federal classification
While laws across several U.S. states regarding medicinal or recreational marijuana use have evolved from outright prohibition into permitted use, the substance is still classified as a Schedule I drug at the federal level — meaning that federal law enforcement views it as a drug “with no currently accepted medical use [with] a high potential for abuse,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
This places marijuana, otherwise known as cannabis, in the same federal class as drugs such as heroin, ecstasy, LSD and peyote. Independent academic studies have largely challenged this conception, particularly for medicinal use, but the ongoing Schedule I classification means that in the eyes of the federal government, marijuana use is illegal and constitutes a criminal offense.
All but 11 states allow for at least the medical consumption of marijuana, and it is also legal for both medical and recreational use in the District of Columbia, itself a federal district. But in these 11 states — including Indiana — recreational and medical use is barred at the state, local and county levels.
Elkhart resident Sean Kemp, who is a beneficiary of HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program that provides him with mortgage assistance, described for the local NBC outlet that he suffers from chronic pain and was offered a single marijuana edible by a friend in November 2023.
“I was born with scoliosis,” Kemp told station WNDU. “I had my first back surgery [the] summer before my freshman year, [and a] second back surgery summer before my junior year. [My] third back surgery was in 2018. I can’t work, I can’t bend and I can’t lift very much [or] walk very far.”
Prior to the 2023 incident, Kemp explained that his health provider began requiring only private insurance, which prevented him from getting prescriptions. Largely dependent on opioid prescriptions to manage his pain, the offer from the friend made a noticeable difference, he explained.
“I took one gummy that day, and I felt so good,” he said. “It was like oil for the tin man.”
Losing benefits
When it came time for Kemp to file paperwork for the redetermination of his HUD benefits, which he said allowed him to become a homeowner in 2018, he disclosed the incident since he was unwilling to lie and risk a loss of benefits along with the imposition of fines.
But the choice to disclose led to the loss of benefits anyway, and an appeal he filed with the Elkhart Housing Authority was denied. Payments from the program being made on his mortgage will end on Jan. 31, he said.
Caroline Klapp, the WNDU reporter who spoke with Kemp, explained to HousingWire that he had found a “loophole” in the federal HCV program, which says that public housing authorities (PHAs) distributing HUD benefits can exercise their own discretion on eviction decisions for someone using marijuana.
But Elkhart Housing Authority executive director Angelia Washington said her organization is “required to stand by Indiana’s [state] laws on marijuana,” and that the agency’s policy is “to revoke benefits if someone admits to using illegal drugs,” according to the reporting.
“I will probably lose my house in three months,” Kemp said. “It’s going to destroy my credit, and I will be out on the street.”
But Indiana, like much of the nation, is facing a homelessness challenge. A September 2024 report from Indiana University’s Public Policy Institute said that the state faces “high eviction rates, housing instability, and homelessness rates,” the latter of which increased by 10% in 2023.
HCVs in legal-cannabis states
In states with more permissive marijuana laws, like Washington and Colorado, housing agencies take a more nuanced approach.
According to the 2024 administrative plan for the HCV program through the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA), any potential HCV applicant consuming any controlled substance, including medicinal marijuana, “will not be admitted to the program” and any voucher holder using any controlled substance, “including marijuana, on or off SHA premises, may be terminated from the program.”
But those using marijuana in compliance with the state’s Medical Marijuana Act of 2016 will not be terminated from the program due to a disability as long as they submit a request for “reasonable accommodation.”
A similar plan from the housing division of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs that was updated last year addresses the conflict between state and federal laws.
“The legalization of marijuana in the State of Colorado directly conflicts with the HUD definition of a controlled substance in Section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act,” the plan states. “The conflicting State and Federal law presents a challenge to administer a federally funded Housing Choice Voucher Program.”
In such an instance, the Colorado plan specified that it will consider termination of the recipient’s benefits only if there is a lease violation, a verbal or written law enforcement report of criminal activity, or a housing quality standards “breach caused by the family.”
HousingWire reached out to the Elkhart Housing Authority and representatives for HUD on the matter but did not receive an immediate reply. This story will be updated if they respond.
