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This is a problem that faces landlords all over the country. How to handle a tenant on the sex offender registry.
The City of New York has an out though, they have a firm rule that housing for those who are on the sexual offender registry. They can not rent.
But as with any large bureaucracy, the slow and laborious process failed to do its job and now their are 112 sexual offenders living subsidized housing in New York City. The failure to catch this situation provides a two fold failure of the system. First, by missing these people you are placing their neighbors in jeopardy of a sexual attack, not to mention the future liability to the city. And you are also denying someone who is worthy of living in the housing from the opportunity.
Screening for these apartments takes months, it is a shame that the city will not do the job it is tasked with doing.
“I was obviously surprised and disappointed when this week we discovered there are over 100 sex offenders living illegally in public housing right now,” Mr. Gioia said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It’s illegal, it’s against federal law, it’s against city policy, and it’s simply wrong to have taxpayers subsidizing pedophiles and rapists in public housing.”
Federal law requires public housing authorities to reject any applicants who are on a lifetime sex offender registry. Residents of the city’s public housing pay a fraction of market rate rents. via The New York Sun.
1 comment so far ↓
It is very sad to see these false perceptions of who the majority of people who have found themselves having to register as sex offenders really are.
Media and politicians get votes by promising to make communities safer. In the process, the public is less secure and more frightened than ever.
The average offender on the sex offender registry is a first time offender, not a violent rapist, not a serial pedophile. Overwhelming, the victim knew the offender - usually a family member or close friend.
In many of the rest of the cases, the sex offender is guilty of viewing pornographic images of young people, usually of eastern European origin.
Most sex offenders pose little risk to their neighbors - certainly far less risk than the drug dealers and gang bangers.
Most sex offenders are not predatory, most have remorse, most have been so humiliated by the system and are on weekly visits with probation as well as treatment programs. These are mandatory for all sex offenders in NYC.
I hope people in general can stop with the panic.
Granted there are a small percentage of serial and violent criminals - who really need to be behind bars. But, the VAST majority of the folks caught in this net pose no danger to the public at large.
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