City says ‘time out’ on parolee housing

A recent inquiry from a county contractor asking for the city’s policy on parolee housing prompted some quick action by the City Council at the Nov. 1 meeting. Community Supervised Housing (“halfway house”) allow a non-violent, non-sexual parolee to serve out his or her remaining sentence within the community.

The Public Safety Realignment Act, (Assembly Bill 109) passed in 2011 transferred the responsibility for managing parolee housing and parolee support programs to the counties. The Contra Costa Realignment Plan (passed in October 2011) then shifted the burden to the cities.

Since the Clayton Municipal Code does not contain any regulations or operating policies for community supervised housing, a “time-out” was needed while the city considers the impact such housing would have on the community.

“The intent is not to permanently ban these uses, but to give the city time to study locations, concentrations and distance from schools, parks and day care facilities,” said Community Development Director Mindy Gentry in her staff report.

With nearly half (48.8 percent) of parolees reoffending within three years following release, there is potential for negative impacts to the community if there were several facilities in an area or if they were near schools or parks, Gentry said.