Sex Offenders Getting Subsidized Housing

Sex Offenders Getting Subsidized Housing


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Investigators say thousands of lifetime registered sex offenders are living with families who receive federally subsidized housing -- a violation of federal law.

Investigators projected that the Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidizes roughly 2,100 to 3,000 households that include serious sex offenders. The HUD inspector general's office handled the probe.

A ban concerning subsidized housing for the most serious sex offenders was instituted after a 1997 case when a convicted sex offender was charged with assaulting and molesting a 9-year-old neighbor girl who lived in the same public housing building.

Investigators said HUD failed to meet the law's objective, in part, because of a lack of monitoring. For example, HUD did not require housing authorities to ask applicants whether any of the prospective residents was subject to a lifetime registration requirement.

http://www.news10.net/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=65553&catid=5