Meth takes a toll on Indian reservation housing South Dakota)

MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Leah Fyten believes that every family on her South Dakota reservation has been affected by methamphetamine use.

The drug has torn apart these families, led to increases in crime and bumped mortality rates. And now, the director of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Housing Authority says, it's affecting the reservation's already desperate housing situation.

Housing is not only ruined by meth labs, which are highly poisonous and often difficult to spot, but also by the destructive habits that often accompany drug use. The housing authority on the Flandreau reservation has spent countless dollars fixing up holes in the walls, broken windows, ruined appliances and other damage wrought by bad hygiene and the violent habits of drug users, Fyten said.

"We have a small budget that decreases every year and families are growing," she said. "Housing gets worse every year. And to try to repair houses that are damaged by alcohol and drug abuse puts a strain on your budget."

http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/14347975.htm