Sex Offenders May See Stimulus Money
$7.4 million has been allotted to help the homeless, including the bridge dwellers
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A view of one of the many sexual offenders that lives under the Julia Tuttle causeway bridge due to zoning restrictions that leave them nowhere else to go.
The sex offenders forced to live under the Julia Tuttle bridge because of proximity laws could get a chunk of stimulus money, according to the Miami Herald.
The state has allotted $7.4 million, which is being administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to go toward the homeless population - sex offenders included -- to assist them with rent, housing and utilities, as long as they meet income eligibility requirements.
At least one member of the bridge population, which has, according to Miami-Dade Homeless Trust chairman Ron Book, dropped from about 100 to 49 residents over the past few months, isn't sold on the stimulus.
Convicted sex offender Kevin Morales told the Herald he won't move until the boundary laws - which currently insist that offenders stay 2,500 feet away from public places where children may be - are changed, regardless of the money.
"Are we picky about where we want to live?'' he said. "I guess yes. I want to find a place that's suitable for me.''
Morales also said that he and others are hesitant because they are worried that once the money runs out, they'll be right back where they started.
Indeed, the stimulus money isn't going to help fix the rules, and policymakers are still looking for a solution.
"We've learned a lot through this ordeal,'' Miami-Dade Commissioner Pepe Diaz told the Herald. "I am looking at what occurred and we will be adjusting and modifying the rules.''
