A Phillipsburg Housing Authority resident claims the agency is taking away her constitutional right to fly the American flag.

Dawn Paulus has refused to take down three American flags hanging from her balcony at the John F. O’Donnell Apartments after housing authority officials have asked for them to be removed.

Phillipsburg Housing Authority Executive Director Paul Rummerfield said he asked Paulus to remove her flags because they violate her lease agreement.

Rummerfield said the lease states tenants shall not hang anything on the balcony out of safety and discrimination concerns.

Another tenant at the apartment building, who wished to remain anonymous, said he is also refusing to take a flag down from his balcony.

Under the Fair Housing Act, if the nonprofit allows tenants to hang flags, Rummerfield said, they can’t discriminate on what flags are flown.

Rummerfield said an option for Paulus is to get a base for the flags and to put them on a porch table.

If tenants continue to disobey the agency’s requests, Rummerfield said eviction is always a possibility, albeit an extreme one, when a resident is violating a lease.

Paulus insists she has no intentions to remove the flags.