March 30, 2009

NY- Councilman Eric Gioia: Keep sex offenders out of public housing

Lawmakers continually get this wrong, ALL sex offenders ARE NOT barred from public housing! see below:

3-30-2009 New York:

Councilman Eric Gioia is adamant about where New York's most dangerous pervs should not live - city housing projects.

But when asked to suggest neighborhoods where they might reside he couldn't come up with a single suggestion.

"I don't think government should be telling people where to live," Gioia offered.

For the third year in a row, Gioia (D-Queens) released a report Sunday detailing the number of registered sex offenders illegally living in public housing.

Federal law and New York City Housing Authority policy bars registered offenders from living in subsidized housing.

Typical of lawmakers, they just don't know what HUD law really says, it does not bar ALL sex offenders, ONLY certain ones. see Are ALL sex offenders prohibited from living in federally assisted housing?


This year the number jumped to 126 offenders, up 12% from last year. In 2006, Gioia found 200 registered offenders in public housing.

Forty-two of the city's 3,432 registered sex offenders live in projects in Brooklyn, according to the new report. There are 37 in Manhattan public housing, 36 are in the Bronx, eight are in Queens and three are in Staten Island.

"We are implicitly saying to the poorest among us, 'We're sorry, but we will warehouse the most violent predators in New York City next to you and we won't even tell about it,'" Gioia said.

A Housing Authority spokeswoman defended the agency's efforts.

"When NYCHA is notified by the NYPD that an individual is a registered sex offender who is living in public housing, tenancy proceedings are begun to remove them," spokeswoman Millie Molina said. ..News Source.. by Lore Croghan, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

1 comment:

NG said...

"I don't think government should be telling people where to live," Gioia offered.

Yet he has no problem telling people where they shouldn't.