{"id":189306,"date":"2026-04-08T07:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189306\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T07:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:50:16","slug":"homeless-families-in-motels-find-sex-offenders-next-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189306\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless families in motels find sex offenders next door"},"content":{"rendered":"

As\u00a0New York\u00a0increasingly\u00a0relies\u00a0on hotels to house families\u00a0experiencing homelessness, a\u00a0Spectrum News 1\u00a0review found in some counties those families may\u00a0live\u00a0next door to registered\u00a0level\u00a0two\u00a0and level\u00a0three\u00a0sex offenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Broome County, in the Southern Tier,\u00a0was\u00a0found to have three hotels in such a situation.<\/p>\n

Through a Freedom of Information Law request,\u00a0Spectrum News 1\u00a0used\u00a0payment records\u00a0from the\u00a0state\u00a0Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to confirm\u00a0which hotels Broome County uses as temporary housing for families.\u00a0In comparing the hotel address with\u00a0publicly available addresses of\u00a0registered sex offenders, as of March\u00a031, four\u00a0registered sex offenders are living\u00a0at\u00a0the Knights Inn in Endicott.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

People staying at the Knights Inn receive food during a distribution event by a local church group. (Emily Kenny\/Spectrum News 1)<\/p>\n

New York state Sen. Rob Rolison, a Hudson Valley-based Republican and retired police officer,\u00a0said in an interview level two and three offenders\u00a0are more than likely predatory and could be a cause for concern if they are living near families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should not be under any circumstances,\u201d Rolison said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He serves on the Children and Family Committee and the Crime and Crime Victims Committee.\u00a0Ultimately, Rolison\u00a0believes it comes down to the availability of housing.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It is] the inability to find permanent housing, which\u00a0I’ll\u00a0also say is\u00a0very important\u00a0to the management of individuals who have challenges whether it is a sex offender,\u00a0someone\u00a0battle an addiction issue. Stability is so important,\u201d Rolison said.<\/p>\n

Only level two and three sex offenders\u00a0are required\u00a0by state law\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0maintained\u00a0in a\u00a0public\u00a0online directory\u00a0that\u00a0lists\u00a0their addresses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A review found at least seven counties with a combined dozen hotels\u00a0with family placements that matched addresses for registered sex offenders.<\/p>\n

In response to this story,\u00a0Broome County officials\u00a0confirmed\u00a0its\u00a0Department of Social Services uses the hotel for housing families.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, the Knights Inn at 2603 E.\u00a0Main Street in Endicott is also used by DSS for temporary housing for families,\u201d said Graciela Jensen in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2025,\u00a0there were\u00a0264 calls for police intervention at the Knights Inn, and\u00a0in the first six weeks\u00a0of the year,\u00a0there\u00a0were\u00a037 calls, according to police records from the Broome County Sheriff\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jasmine assists in unloading food from the truck which is distributed to families at the Knights Inn. (Emily Kenny\/Spectrum News 1)<\/p>\n

The\u00a0manager of the hotel\u00a0declined an interview with\u00a0Spectrum News 1.<\/p>\n

Jasmine Stratford\u00a0and her three kids\u00a0lived at the\u00a0Knights\u00a0Inn\u00a0for\u00a0about a month\u00a0in 2023.\u00a0She said no one discussed the possibility that sex offenders could be living in the hotels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a little bit alarming because I have three children, but they didn\u2019t disclose that to me, and I don\u2019t even think it was a factor,\u201d Stratford said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jensen\u00a0also\u00a0confirmed\u00a0the county\u00a0uses\u00a0the Motel 6 in Binghamton, the Red Roof Inn in Johnson City, the Sunrise Motel in Johnson City\u00a0and the Deep Well Motel in Owego for families. The Red Roof Inn currently has two registered sex offenders, and the\u00a0Sunrise Motel\u00a0and Deep Well Motel both have one registered sex offender living there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Social Services (DSS)\u00a0complies with\u00a0New York State regulations\u00a0regarding\u00a0the placement and housing of registered sex offenders. In alignment with these requirements, DSS makes every reasonable effort to ensure that such individuals are not placed in hotels or other temporary\u00a0housing facilities that are also used to\u00a0accomodate\u00a0families, particularly those with children. Placement decisions are made with consideration of public safety, regulatory\u00a0compliance\u00a0and the availability of\u00a0appropriate housing\u00a0alternatives,\u201d Commissioner of the Broome County DSS Nancy Williams said in a statement.<\/p>\n

During a roundtable discussion in\u00a0Western New York\u00a0last\u00a0month, New York state\u00a0Sen.\u00a0George Borrello,\u00a0R-Sunset Bay,\u00a0said that housing people in hotels and motels has caused unnecessary stress on local law enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve\u00a0had multiple issues with law enforcement.\u00a0We\u2019ve\u00a0had child endangerment issues in our school system. The superintendent was\u00a0telling\u00a0a story about someone that tried to board a school bus and make threats to the driver.\u00a0We\u2019ve\u00a0had countless issues of\u00a0theft.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a growing problem.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0become a tremendous burden,\u201d Borrello said during the\u00a0roundtable.<\/p>\n

Town of Ellicott\u00a0Police\u00a0Chief Daniel Ingrao said\u00a0that incidents related to individuals in these hotels account for about 10% of the department\u2019s call volume.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s\u00a0been several instances where individuals were suspected of using narcotics around children, around juveniles.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0been issues with theft, larceny, sexual misconduct,\u201d Ingrao said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stratford said the Knights Inn in Broome County also had\u00a0a number of\u00a0issues with\u00a0drug use and\u00a0paraphernalia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are needles everywhere, caps and exposed needles. There are children that run around there without their shoes on,\u201d Stratford said. \u201cThe drug addicts were\u00a0pretty much out\u00a0in the open, it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0concealed or confined away from families that are there without a choice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Chautauqua County, one of the hotels that Ingrao said has\u00a0had\u00a0issues is the Quality Inn in Falconer, which\u00a0shares a property line with\u00a0an elementary school. Another around the corner, the Budget Inn, has two registered\u00a0offenders\u00a0living there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that the rate of recidivism for sex offenders is very high,\u00a0so to place someone like that particularly in a hotel without the knowledge of that person\u2019s background for the property owner, the hotel owner, the local law enforcement officials, I think is a problem,\u201d Borrello said. \u201cWe need to wrap arms around the fact that this is an issue of\u00a0public\u00a0safety.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Toys and food sit in the window sill of a hotel room at the Motel 6 in Binghamton which is used for housing families and has registered offenders living there. (Emily Kenny\/Spectrum News 1)<\/p>\n

Justin Gould, a spokesperson for Chautauqua County, said they try to keep individuals and families in separate\u00a0hotels,\u00a0but that\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0always happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlacement is\u00a0largely\u00a0based\u00a0on availability at the time and other considerations related to the\u00a0individual\u2019s situation. When demand is high, the department works with whichever in-county locations have space available with the goal of\u00a0utilizing\u00a0local options whenever possible,\u201d Gould said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rolison said part of the issue comes down to the availability of\u00a0affordable and permanent\u00a0housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a situation where there aren\u2019t enough places for people to live,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen [sex offenders] come out of a facility \u2014\u00a0correctional facility \u2014\u00a0there are conditions that are put on their\u00a0release,\u00a0and they\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0be certain places. They\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0live certain places.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The New York Civil Liberties Union has\u00a0filed a lawsuit that\u00a0challenges\u00a0the current living\u00a0restrictions, known as Sexual Assault Reform Act or SARA restrictions,\u00a0which says level three offenders\u00a0cannot knowingly enter within\u00a01,000 feet\u00a0of school grounds, day\u00a0care\u00a0facilities\u00a0and other\u00a0child care\u00a0facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are schools everywhere in dense urban environments, particularly in New York City, meaning people cannot find housing,\u201d said Daniel Lambright, a\u00a0senior lawyer for the NYCLU.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jasmine, her daughter and one of their dogs sit on the couch in their apartment. (Emily Kenny\/Spectrum News 1)<\/p>\n

Level\u00a0two and\u00a0three offenders\u00a0are required to\u00a0have a place to live when they are released from prison, so if they\u00a0don\u2019t, Lambright said they will occasionally be held over their sentence dates, or Department of Corrections and Community Supervision\u00a0will place them in more rural areas where the hotels abide by SARA\u00a0restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cDOCCS will try to find hotel situations where people can live, and again it\u2019s caused by the residency restriction wiping out housing that people go to otherwise live for really no good reason because there\u2019s not\u00a0empirical\u00a0evidence to support the residency restriction actions being effective at reducing sexual violence or sexual offending.\u00a0It really just makes it harder for people to find housing and for people to rebuild their lives,\u201d Lambright said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stratford, the Broome County mom,\u00a0said she would like to see changes for families living in these\u00a0hotels.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo something, do better. DSS is the root of the problem, and everybody else has\u00a0taken the heat\u00a0for\u00a0it,\u00a0but\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0the problem,”\u00a0Stratford said. “They\u2019re\u00a0placing people in these hotels. They are being careless and negligent about it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As\u00a0New York\u00a0increasingly\u00a0relies\u00a0on hotels to house families\u00a0experiencing homelessness, a\u00a0Spectrum News 1\u00a0review found in some counties those families may\u00a0live\u00a0next door…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[387,257,8255,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,108,308,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-189306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-app-public-safety","9":"tag-central-ny","10":"tag-emily-kenny","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-new-york-state","15":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-state-news","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-ny-state-of-politics-blog","19":"tag-public-safety","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}