SOPHIA Housing Availability for Sex Offenders Study

Sex Offenders Pursuing Healing In Adversity (SOPHIA Network)
September 2006 Apartment Hunting "Call Study:" Final Results
By: Derek “The Fallen One” Logue

IMPACT ON RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS ON AVAILABLE POST-RELEASE HOUSING:
A practical analysis

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, sex offender residency laws have come into vogue. As of 2006, 22 states had some form of
residency restriction: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,
Washington, and West Virginia. (Marcus Nieto and David Jung, California Research Bureau, “The Impact of
Residency Restrictions on Sex Offenders and Correctional Practices: A Literature Overview,” 2006, p.17). These
laws have come under fire as studies have shown such laws to be ineffective (Minnesota Dept. of Corrections,
“Level Three Sex Offenders- Treatment Placement Issues, 2003, p. 19; Minnesota Dept. of Corrections,
“Residential Proximity and Sex Offense Recidivism in Minnesota, April 2007; Colorado Dept. of Public Safety, Sex
Offender Management Board, March 2004). Residency laws have led to a number of negative consequences,
including giving offenders ample incentive not to register or "go underground" (Monica Davey, “Iowa’s Residency
Rules Drive Sex Offenders Underground,” New York Times, March 15, 2006) or into homelessness (Wendy Koch,
"Many sex offenders are often homeless." USA Today, Nov. 18, 2007).
It should go without saying residency laws restrict the number of available housing. After Cincinnati increased their
residency restrictions in January 2007, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the number of “multi-family housing
units” (I. e., apartments) off limits increased from 38,674 to 54,447; the actual percentage of housing now off limits
jumped from 44% to 60%. (Jessica Brown, “Law Pushes Sex Offenders to Suburbs,” May 1, 2007, Cincinnati
Enquirer). One deficiency in the aforementioned report is the true availability of those remaining "40%."
In June 2005, I received my first notice that my apartment that had been pre-approved by the sheriff's office was in
fact within 1000 feet of a school. In anticipation of a forced eviction, I began hunting for a new residence beginning
in October 2005. This is significant because Ohio's residency laws only restrict Registered Sex Offenders (RSO)
from residing within 1000 feet from a school. Cincinnati's January 2007 ordinance added daycare facilities,
recreation centers, city pools, and boys'/ girls' clubs to the list of restrictions. This "study" was conducted mainly
during the summer months of 2006; thus according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, 56%, rather than 40%, of the housing
in the city limits is theoretically available to sex offenders. Of course, even had the ordinance been in place during
the time this study was made, it only would have impacted only those residences within the city limits; county and
suburb residences would not have been affected.
This exercise was not intended to be a "study" per se, but an actual job hunt. However, as the numbers began to
pile up, I found it necessary to document and analyze the various responses I received from the many landlords I
contacted.

METHOD

This study involved calling prospective landlords and asking them if they would rent to an RSO. All of the prospects
met the following criteria:

All of the residences were located in Ohio. All Kentucky and Indiana residences were excluded. Virtually all
residences (maybe with one or two exceptions; I happened to find my new residence while jogging) were
found in the Cincinnati Enquirer classified ads.
There was a $405 limit on rent (as I was on a limited budget, as most sex offenders share a common
characteristic, namely poverty)
With few exceptions, all apartments were either studio or one-bedroom apartments.

One noticeable (but unsurprising) pattern is the location of the bulk of potential residences were in lower income
neighborhoods such as Avondale or Price Hill, while apartments in more affluent neighborhoods such as Hyde Park
were underrepresented in this study.

SOPHIA Sept. 2006 Research Study Script

“Hi, my name is ___________, and I am looking for an apartment under $400 a month for a friend of mine. But first I
must ask if you are willing to rent to a registered sex offender?”
If no, ask why. If they do state a reason, mark it down. If they were particularly nasty or rude, note that as well.
Reasons can vary; personal, too close to a school, fear of losing tenants or of the notification laws causing trouble
are the most common responses.
If yes, ask for the address of the apartment. Verify the address with the local sheriff’s department in accordance with
the state’s residency restriction laws, if applicable. If the apartment meets the residency requirements, write
“verified” if not it must be listed as “no-too close”
If you get voice mail leave a message-- use the same line as the first line on this script and add if they can rent to a
sex offender to call back.

SAMPLE CALL LIST

Community: Norwood                                        Community: Price Hill
Number: 513-555-5555                                    Number: 513-555-1234
Rent Price: $385 mo. 1bdrm                             Rent Price: $300 mo 1 bd, $400 mo. 2bdrm
Will rent: NO-Rude                                           Will Rent: Yes, $15 app. Fee
Reason: None given                                         Reason: NA
Address: NA                                                     Address: 1313 13th St.
Verified:NA                                                       Verified: Yes

The responses were categorized as follows:

No- just a no with no clear reason given
Rude no- consider marking a renter as such if s/he responds in a very ill manner to the question or uses
crude or vulgar language in reply
No, but: put a renter here if they say they would if not for a variety of things, such as fear of losing tenants,
community flyers, or because they are aware that their property is too close to a school or other restriction
Unavailable- already rented out
Yes- people who say they will rent to RSO. This includes people who say yes but do not know if their
property meets the residency restrictions of their area.
Verified- Many renters still do not know if they meet the residency restrictions of their state if applicable, thus
the address must be verified with the local sheriff’s office. The residence is ‘verified” if you, the surveyor,
affirm with the sheriff that the property meets the requirements of the state’s residency restrictions.
NCB- This is unreturned messages or numbers that are disconnected or wrong.

RESULTS

76 people responded NO (54% of all calls). Of the 71, seven of them would rent to an RSO if not for the
residency restrictions or community notification; nine were particularly rude and vulgar to the caller; and the
rest gave no particular reason for denial.
6 apartments were unavailable, specifically because they were filled (4% of all calls)
7 people stated they will consider it (5% of all calls). Of the seven, 3 addresses are confirmed (1.5% of all
calls), one unconfirmed by the caller but allegedly confirmed by the renter (noting this renter will only rent to
those deemed “sexually oriented offender,” the low risk category in Ohio’s three-tiered registry), and the
other three are not available at the moment and was told to call back at a later date. Only one renter is not
charging an application fee for credit checking purposes; the average application fee noted is $25.
37 calls are regarded as No Call Backs (NCB, 28% of all calls), mainly because these were calls where voice
mail was left and subsequently never returned the call. Also included in this statistic were calls in which the
listed numbers were wrong numbers, possibly the result of number changes or errors on behalf of the source
of the ad, but is statistically insignificant. However, in the case of left messages, it can be assumed the NCB to
imply a no response, though unverified.
If you eliminate the NCB from the study (leaving 94 residences), the percentages are 80% No, 6%
unavailable, 7% yes, and 3% confirmed yes.

ANALYSIS

The number of actual available housing (1.5% with NCBs, 3% without) was far below the 56% availability stat offered
up in the newspaper analysis, which reportedly came from the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission and
the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. Even if you added the number of those willing to rent to an RSO and the
landlord who stated he would rent to a Tier 1 offender, this number would still be far below the listed number. Of
those who refused rental, it is worthy to note the number of landlords openly hostile to the prospect of renting to an
RSO slightly exceeded the number who otherwise would be willing to rent to an RSO if not for the law. Also of great
importance was the number of landlords who would not return the calls; please note that the caller identified himself
as a sex offender, or, in the case of a female assistant, was calling on behalf of an RSO.
The impact of residency laws on available housing is statistically significant. If not for the laws, a total of 14
residences would be available to n RSO (11% with NCBs, 15% w/o NCBs). Still significantly below the projected
56%, but the law negatively impacts 78% of potential housing for an RSO. This is important because, "Although
these laws were passed as a means to decrease recidivism and promote public safety, the resulting stigmatization
of sex offenders is likely to result in disruption of their
relationships, loss of or difficulties finding jobs, difficulties finding housing, and decreased
psychological well-being, all factors that could increase their risk of recidivism" (Hollida Wakefield, "The vilification of
sex offenders: Do laws targeting sex offenders increase recidivism and sexual violence?" Journal of Sexual Offender
Civil Commitment: Science and the Law, 2006, p. 141).
Being more a study derived from a necessity rather than from a controlled environment, there was little initial
planning regarding methodology and only during the course of this exercise did a certain need for data become
evident. As such there were a few deficiencies in reviewing the available data collected during this exercise. Firstly,
this study was limited to the Cincinnati metropolitan area in accordance with a residency rule which has since been
expanded to include more restrictive areas. Also, those fortunate enough to have sufficient income would be
assumed to have more housing options available; it is worth noting the aforementioned Enquirer report also states
"78% of convicted sex offenders live in areas where the average household income is below the county median." Of
the list of the 10 communities with the most sex offenders, eight of the ten communities are considered "ghettoes" or
low-income and rather notoriously high-crime areas.
Certainly I would love to see this study replicated under other conditions. In particular, a study should be conducted
in states that have not passed residency laws, along with states with stricter residency laws. Indeed, other states
have stricter residency laws than Ohio or even the city of Cincinnati. My theory, based on the available data I have
collected from this exercise, obviously states the more restrictive the law, the more negative the impact on the RSO.
And that is a lose-lose situation for everyone.

Derek “The Fallen One” Logue
Project Completed: September 26, 2006
First Report: December 6, 2006
Current version: January 14, 2008

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