Suffolk ends vouchers for homeless sex offenders

The Suffolk Legislature voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to end the use of trailers and vouchers to house homeless sex offenders and ordered a new plan within 30 days to more fairly spread out the burden of sheltering them across the county.

The legislature voted 14-4 without debate to approve the measure put forward by Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) directing the Department of Social Services to devise a plan for a network of mini-shelters in industrial areas. They would be limited to no more than six homeless offenders each where no town or legislative district would have more than one shelter.

Lindsay said his proposal would more fairly distribute housing of homeless sex offenders across the county. "I think this is a solution," Lindsay said, adding, "Otherwise we're putting our heads in the sand."

Roland Hampson, a social services spokesman, said "We . . . oppose any plan that prohibits us from using the voucher system, which we will need if this speculative process does not succeed. It will take a great deal of time to implement Legislator Lindsay's plan if it can be implemented at all."

Hampson said vouchers have been used successfully elsewhere on Long Island and in most of the state. The county currently houses its 15 to 25 homeless sex offenders in trailers outside the Riverhead county jail and on property in Westhampton.

County Executive Steve Levy earlier this year directed the Department of Social Services to begin using a voucher program where homeless offenders find accommodations on their own, after an unsuccessful bid to relocate offenders to an industrial park in Babylon. However, the vouchers system has been stymied because the agency does not have the petty cash to fully implement it. As of last week, only two of 21 offenders were using vouchers.

The legislature acted after nearly a dozen East End residents, including Southampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst and Riverhead Assessor Mason Haas, complained that their area alone has shouldered housing offenders for more than three years even though the county's original intent was to move the trailers around monthly. "It's unfair, unjust and uncourteous and simply not right," said Throne-Holst, adding that Lindsay's bill "is a step in the right direction."

East End towns last week got a temporary court order to stop the county from using trailers with showers in Riverhead and Westhampton, which had been ordered after a state hearing.

Opposing the plan were Democratic lawmakers from Babylon and Huntington - Louis D'Amaro, Steve Stern, Wayne Horsley and DuWayne Gregory - who earlier this year saw more than 1,000 protesters turn out against the Babylon site. At committee meetings, D'Amaro has said the current setup where offenders are kept in trailers on county property provides a secure place for offenders away from most county residents.

Dan Aug, a Levy spokesman, said the county executive is reviewing the bill and has 30 days to sign or veto it.