Tampa residents do not understand the root cause of the clustering of people on the sex offender registry

At the October 19 Tampa City Council meeting, Dr. Bryanna Fox, a professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida, was able to help the city commissioners understand that SORN is a complete failure.

But unfortunately, the council members do not understand that the state residency restrictions are what is causing the clustering problem.  Some council members, though, did suggest that if the cause of the clustering problem is state statutes, then possibly the Tampa council members need to reach out to the state to let them know the problems the statutes are causing for Tampa.

This is what we want to happen: for city and county governments to let our Florida leaders know that some of their statutes are making things worse, not better.

As FOX 13 News stated, even the Tampa Police Department “has identified only three limited areas in Tampa with low-income housing where sex offenders are permitted to live due to 1000-foot residency restrictions.”

Mentioned in the FOX 13 article is that the current occupancy levels at the boarding houses being used to house registered citizens contradicts the Florida Fire Prevention Code’s “Rooming House” definition (maximum occupancy of 16).  At the October 19 council meeting, the city attorney stated that the boarding houses are not violating the fire code.  It has been determined that these facilities can hold up to 30 people, so they are meeting the guidelines, and this is one less argument that the people of Ybor can use against the clustering in their neighborhood.

Ybor wants to “rectify the systemic practice of disproportionately directing parolees, advocating for a more balanced regional approach.”  The solution is to put pressure on the Florida legislature to repeal the 1000-foot residency restriction and disallow residency restrictions anywhere in the state.  

There are other states that do not have residency restrictions, and their sex offense rates are not higher than Florida’s.

The Ybor Neighborhood Association president sent a letter to council members requesting the following actions:

• Engage proactively with the Department of Corrections and FDLE to rectify the systemic practice of disproportionately directing parolees, advocating for a more balanced regional approach.  (SOLUTION: REPEAL STATE RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS)
• Vigorously enforce existing occupancy, building, and zoning codes, adhering to the Florida Fire Prevention Code and City of Tampa Ordinances.  (CITY ATTORNEY SAID IT HAS BEEN DETERMINED THAT THE BOARDING HOUSES ARE FOLLOWING CODE.)
• Ensure strict compliance with life safety and construction requirements as outlined in the Florida Fire Prevention Code and the Florida Building Code for rooming houses (or hotels).  (CITY ATTORNEY SAID THAT THEY ARE UP TO CODE.)
• Enforce the stipulations within city of Tampa ordinances, Chapter19 and 27, encompassing plumbing fixture counts and minimum space allocations per lodging unit.  (YBOR IS NOW BECOMING DESPERATE FOR AN EXCUSE TO CLOSE DOWN THESE BOARDING HOUSES.)
• Task code enforcement with guaranteeing that property owners providing housing for felons, sex offenders and predators uphold the highest standards of safety, and cleanliness, in accordance with legal requirements.”  (WE HOPE THAT ALL RENTALS UPHOLD THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF SAFETY AND CLEANLINESS.)

Since the council members were confused on how to move forward with Ybor residents’ demands, a workshop will be held on November 30 to discuss the matter.  Soon we will be asking FAC members to help inform the council members of the state statute causing their problem.