Provides notice to public housing authorities whenever a sex offender is released to public housing

4 Co-sponsors

• William Colton
• Michael G. Miller
• Kenneth Zebrowski
• Mike Spano

1 Multi-sponsor

• Helene Weinstein

BILL NUMBER:A3024F

Title of bill

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to notice whenever a sex offender is released to a public housing residence

Purpose or general idea of bill

Requires the Division of Criminal Justice Services to make sex offender registry information regarding level 2 and 3 offenders available to municipal housing authorities.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1: Amends Correction Law section 168-b to provide that the Division shall make available sex offender registry information regarding level 2 and 3 sex offenders to municipal housing authorities to ensure that such persons do not live in such public housing projects as is provided for under Federal Law.

Section 2 is the effective date.

Justification

In 1598, Congress banned subsidized housing for the most serious sex offenders after a convicted sex offender was charged with assaulting and molesting a 9-year-old neighbor girl who lived in the same public housing building. Also known as the Quality Housing and work Responsibility Act, this new legislation prohibited housing authorities from admitting any household that includes a 'person subject to the lifetime sex offender registration requirement.

In March 2409, a report released by NYC Councilman Eric Gioia found 126 sex offenders living in New York city public housing facilities, up 12% from the.year before. 42 of the City's 3,432 registered sex offenders live in projects in Brooklyn, 37 in Manhattan, 26 in the Bronx, 8 in Queens and 3 in Staten Island.

More recently, a report by the Inspector General of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department, estimated that roughly 2,100-3,000 households currently residing in federally subsidized housing include a serious sex offender. According to investigators, the primary reason why HUD failed to meet the law's objective was that HUD failed to ask prospective residents if they were subject to a lifetime registration requirement and did not require housing authorities to check the national sex offender registry prior to recertifying the eligibility of its current residents.

Prior legislative history

2007-08: (A.7442)

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:; The HUD Inspector General estimates that more than $12 million could be saved annually by not subsidizing housing for households with a lifetime registered sex offender.

Effective date

This act shall take effect 60 days after it shall have become law.