A new sex offender camp could be coming to a town near you.
The former "residents" of the sex offender camp under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in Miami that was cleared out earlier this year could be starting a new camp any day now, according to the Miami Herald.
Many of the offenders are homeless or unemployed and about to be out on the street, causing some to worry that the under the bridge bunch will be setting up shop somewhere new.
"If they can't afford rent, we may be back to square one," Jill Levenson, a professor at Lynn University who is studying residency restrictions, told the Herald. "The problem with this solution it was only temporary, a band-aid."
The encampment beneath the Julia Tuttle Causeway popped up in 2007 and once housed more than 100 people who said they were unable to live elsewhere because of stringent sex offender ordinances.
Miami-Dade County cleared out the Tuttle camp months ago, shutting it down completely in March and promising to find another option for the offenders and pay six months' rent. That six months is about to expire for some, and by November, all the leases will expire.
The residency restrictions Levenson studies are keeping the offenders -- about 90 or so -- in small pockets where they'll observe the 2,500 foot distance they must stay away from children.
"It feels like moving us from that bridge was just a publicity stunt," Homer Barkley, whose six-month lease will expire Sunday, told the Herald. "How do they expect me to find a place to live? I'm not a millionaire."
Homeless Trust Chairman Ron Book, who pushed for closing the Tuttle encampment, said he's worried the offenders will end up back on the streets, but insists the county has done all it can.
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"As far as we're concerned, our help for people under the bridge is done," Book said.
