Suffolk lawmakers OK sex-offender shelters

Suffolk legislators approved a plan Tuesday to place the county's homeless sex offenders in places that would be kept secret during the site-selection process, though County Executive Steve Levy signaled he would veto the measure.

The legislation would create a network of mini-shelters throughout the county and effectively close the Southampton trailers where the homeless sex offenders have been living.

Instead, White Plains-based Community Housing Innovations Inc. would house the offenders at a handful of sites that it would not disclose to the public until after the offenders are placed in them.

"Securing and occupying this site without advising the local community until after it is established is a critical component of this proposal," CHI wrote in its pitch to the county this summer. "CHI will not be involved in any process that requires community approval prior to occupancy."

Levy spokesman Mark Smith said the county executive will veto the bill. Levy has been in a tense debate with presiding officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) over the proposal.

"Mr. Lindsay's concept of creating undisclosed sites for housing homeless sex offenders will undoubtedly wind up in court, leading to no real resolution for months, if not for years," he said.

But the plan to keep sites secret is not Lindsay's. It came from CHI, whose executive director told Newsday this summer that he was encouraged to respond to the county's request for proposals to house homeless sex offenders by the Levy administration.

Smith said the only encouragement Levy's Department of Social Services gave to CHI was to remind them of a 30-day deadline to respond to the county's request for proposals.

The shelters would be located in industrial areas, and no town or legislative district would have more than one. The shelters would also have 24-hour-a-day supervision and counseling.

The legislature would need 12 votes to override a Levy veto. Only 11 lawmakers voted in favor of the plan Tuesday.