The Cicero Institute, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, recently published a report about the sizeable sex offender population that exists amongst homeless people in the United States. Some of the results of the study reveal that in 32 states more than 10 percent of unsheltered homeless populations are registered sex offenders. And in eight states the numbers reveal that more than half of unsheltered homeless populations are registered sex offenders. Sex offenders are barred from most homeless shelters because of the perceived threat to women and children. Devon Kurtz, Public Safety Policy Director at the Cicero Institute and author of the report, observes that while research notes the relationship of homelessness and criminal justice involvement – as in being a criminal, being a victim, and being incarcerated – little attention has been shown to different criminal homeless subpopulations like sex offenders, “who arguably face the steepest personal, social, and legal barriers to housing and reintegration after prison.” Sex offenders are a politically “inconvenient and difficult” major subset of homeless populations, a group which very few homelessness advocates take up.
Sex offenders comprise a large subset of the U.S. homeless population
