WORRYING

Massachusetts Placed Homeless Families in Shelters With Sex Offenders, Report Says

A report found no evidence that any of the families had been alerted to the presence of offenders determined to have a moderate or high-risk of reoffending.

The state government of Massachusetts has been assigning hundreds of unhoused families, many of which have young children, to shelters where sex offenders live or work, according to The Boston Globe. Offenders convicted of crimes against children such as child rape, child pornography, and child battery were found to live or work in at least six of the hotels and dorms which have been designated as Emergency Assistance shelters, a program which primarily serves families with children and pregnant women, about half of which are newly-arrived migrants. None of the offenders identified are migrants, the outlet reported. A 2019 audit found that the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities was not regularly checking shelters against the Sex Offender Registry Board, and concluded that the agency had failed to alert families to the presence of sex offenders. Now, they say they check every six months. While the Globe has not identified any issues from the presence of these offenders, they also found no evidence that any of the families had been alerted to the presence of offenders determined to have a moderate or high-risk of reoffending. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the housing agency said they were in the process of removing the identified sex offenders.