3-2-2010 South Dakota:
The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill Monday that would allow registered sex offenders to live in halfway houses or homeless shelters in community safety zones.
Senate Bill 7 would allow sex offenders on parole to stay at halfway houses within 500 feet of parks, pools or schools as long as they are supervised.
It also allows homeless offenders to stay in shelters regardless of location. In Sioux Falls, the only homeless shelter that will accept registered sex offenders, Union Gospel Mission, is adjacent to a park.
The bill, which already passed the Senate, now moves to the full House for a vote. ..Source.. John Hult, Argus Leader
Showing posts with label Homelessness - Shelters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homelessness - Shelters. Show all posts
March 2, 2010
House panel passes sex offender bill
August 5, 2009
CO- DOC May Have To Pay For Sex Offenders To Stay In Motels
8-5-2009 Colorado:
Closing Of Crossroads Shelter Leaves Law Enforcement Scrambling
DENVER -- The Department of Corrections and the Denver Police Department told 7NEWS they were scrambling to find alternative housing for roughly 100 registered sex offenders who currently stay at Crossroads, an overnight men's shelter run by the Salvation Army.
Last week, the Salvation Army announced they would be closing the shelter by mid-August. The city and law enforcement urged them to keep it open until Aug. 31.
Sex offenders told 7NEWS that housing isn't easy to come by because of the stigma associated with the crime. They said they can't find a job and can't find a place to live.
Law enforcement officers said they understand, which is why they believe Crossroads worked so well for these men.
In many cases, the DOC even paid the $35 a week required for a bed. DOC spokesman Tim Hand said the Dept. of Corrections had to find and provide a transitional housing situation for men who couldn't afford it and Crossroads made it easier for them to monitor the offenders in their system.
Now, the DOC will be forced to go to the families of sex offenders and ask them to take these men in. If that doesn't work they will be forced to put them in motels.
Hand said the Dept. of Corrections will have to look at their budget because the money comes out of their general fund and they were not prepared for Crossroads' closing.
In response to questions regarding tracking men under their watch, Hand said all 70 sex offenders registered at Crossroads had some form of electronic monitoring device.
Finding sex offenders a place to live did prompt 7NEWS to ask the city why the "Road Home" initiative didn't address the issue.
The Department of Human Services said it was reviewing the "crack in the system" and law enforcement and homeless providers were in talks to find all homeless a place to live. ..Source.. by Jane Slater, 7NEWS Reporter
June 2, 2009
RI- New agency, rules at homeless shelter
6-2-2009 Rhode Island:
CRANSTON — The state has hired a new agency to run the Harrington Hall homeless shelter, ending a controversial arrangement in which beds were being reserved for convicted sex offenders.
Starting July 1, the Urban League of Rhode Island will be out, and the House of Hope Community Development Corporation will be in.
The switch does not mean sex offenders will be turned away if they show up needing a place to stay, but it does mean the shelter, about a quarter-mile from a playground and about a half-mile from the nearest school, will no longer reserve space for them.
The state, in fact, has asked the Urban League to evict all registered sex offenders who are using Harrington Hall as their address by June 15, said Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for Governor Carcieri.
“It will be first-come, first-serve,” Kempe said. “They won’t be reserving beds.”
But Kempe said the switch to a new contractor for the coming year “had nothing to do” with the outcry over offenders having reserved beds at Harrington Hall. She said officials liked the plans that House of Hope outlined to give added help to shelter residents.
“The bid process was already under way when the issue about sex offenders came up,” she said.
Word of the change drew applause in Cranston, where nearby residents heatedly opposed the Urban League’s designation of the shelter as a living site for sex offenders who are homeless.
“I’m extremely happy for the people in my area,” said City Council member Michelle Bergin-Andrews, who was vacationing and learned of the state’s decision when contacted by the Journal. “I really want people to know that their voice makes a difference.”
Mayor Allan W. Fung was expected to announce the change Monday night at a meeting of Keep Cranston Safe, a neighborhood group that was pushing for sex offenders to be removed from Harrington Hall, at 30 Howard Ave. Until they are removed, the police will continue to make bed checks, monitoring whether offenders who have listed the shelter as their address return in the evening, said Robin Muksian-Schutt, the mayor’s chief of staff.
City officials have estimated that about 10 registered sex offenders are staying at the men-only facility. It was unclear Monday where they will be relocated.
The Urban League, which provides discharge services for high-risk inmates being released from state prison, also reserves beds for sex offenders at a shelter on Prairie Avenue, in Providence.
Dennis Langley, the Urban League’s president and CEO, declined to comment when reached by phone.
Jean Johnson, executive director of Warwick-based House of Hope, said her agency will focus on not just providing a safe shelter but also helping the homeless men with medical issues, job issues and finding permanent housing — a must if they are going to change their circumstances, she said.
“Housing is the first building block that everything else rests on,” Johnson said.
House of Hope and the Urban League were the only agencies to submit qualified proposals to run Harrington Hall, Kempe said.
The state did not seek proposals, but House of Hope knew the contract to run Rhode Island’s only state-owned homeless shelter — awarded to the Urban League since the shelter opened in 2003 — is renewed annually, she said.
Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, praised the focus House of Hope plans for the shelter, but he said Rhode Island needs to provide reentry programs, other than shelters, for high-risk sex offenders.
“We’ve ignored the sex-offender issue,” he said.
House of Hope will be paid $210,000 to run the shelter from July 1 through June 30, 2010, Kempe said. ..Source.. by Randal Edgar, Journal Staff Writer
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