CA- Sex offender subsidies capped

The minds of lawmakers, they are not to be understood except in the context of further punishment not resolving the societal problem.

2-11-2009 California:

Taxpayer-funded rent money to stop after 60 days

The 69 paroled sex offenders in Shasta County who each receive a subsidy of more than $800 a month to live in apartments, trailer parks and residential motels now have 60 days to pay their own way.

This week, officials at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) put a two-month cap on the amount of time paroled sex offenders will receive taxpayer-funded rent subsidies.

"The able-bodied individuals who don't want to work because the state is paying (their rent), well, for them, the free ride was over," said Dave Nichols, administrator of the CDCR's northern district, who oversees an area from north of Sacramento to the Oregon border.

But the decision alarms area homeless advocates, who say the removal of the subsidy will force more sex offenders on the street.

Don Meek, director of the City of Redding and Shasta County Homeless Continuum of Care Council, called the stipend a "safety net" that keeps sex offenders from becoming homeless.

"I'm not sure what they're going to do when they cut them loose and say, 'You're on your own,'" Meek said

But CDCR officials maintain the living allowances only encouraged sex offenders to live off the taxpayers longer than they had to.

Nichols said 60 days is more than enough time for a parolee to find a job and a place to live.

The subsidies, paid directly to landlords to cover rent and utilities, were originally intended so that sex offenders could easily be tracked and monitored, Nichols said.

"What it turned into was another subsidized welfare program," he said.

Since the CDCR has placed satellite tracking monitors on every sex offender on state parole, the problem of locating sex offenders is now moot, Nichols said.

The CDCR had originally projected to have the devices attached to every paroled sex offender by June, but the department was able to do so six months ahead of schedule.

The requirements were mandated in 2006 after California voters passed Proposition 83, known as Jessica's Law, which banned sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

The change comes after MediaNews reported last month that the state spent nearly $22 million in 2008 to house paroled sex offenders, in some cases paying in excess of $2,000 a month to help them abide by Proposition 83's strict rules.

The news organization found some parolees received the free housing for more than two years, and some motels in the San Francisco Bay area have become home to as many as 18 sex-offender parolees at once.

Shasta County currently has 130 sex offenders on parole; Tehama County has 45, Nichols said.

Of those, only one in Red Bluff has his or her rent paid by the state, while 69 in Shasta County do, Nichols said.

Nichols said north state sex offenders generally receive between $800 and $850 a month for housing.

Redding Police Chief Peter Hansen said many of the paroled sex offenders live in downtown Redding's residential motels.

Richard Kuhns, director of Shasta County's Housing and Community Action Programs, said the sex offenders no longer receiving the subsidy may look for help elsewhere - and likely won't find it.

Sex offenders are not eligible for federal Section 8, low-income housing assistance.

"More people are going to be calling," Kuhns said.

That could put more pressure on homeless assistance agencies, who are already struggling to help people in the weakening economy.

Melinda Brown, director of People of Progress, said parolees are among the most difficult members of the homeless community to assist with finding employment because so few employers will hire them, especially given the influx in unemployed people currently seeking work.

Meek said living restrictions on paroled sex offenders also make it extremely difficult for them to find a place to live, subsidy or no.

"It's a tremendous issue that the community is going to have to deal with," Meek said.

But Hansen said the stepped-up cutoff from the subsidy will only speed up the transition process.

"It just will force them to find their own home - which they have to do any way - sooner," Hansen said. ..News Source.. by Ryan Sabalow