The new rule prevents sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any premises where children commonly gather.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth passed an ordinance Tuesday restricting where sex offenders can live within the city. 

Previously, the city had no ordinance restricting where sex offenders could live. Now, Fort Worth has one of the most restrictive ordinances in the state. 

The new rule prohibits registered sex offenders whose crime involved a minor victim from living within 2,000 feet of “any premises where children gather,” according to the ordinance. The ordinance was approved unanimously, 9-0, with council members Elizabeth Beck and Chris Nettles absent. 

The ordinance also makes it unlawful for anyone to knowingly rent or lease to a sex offender with a minor victim if the dwelling is within 2,000 feet of a place where children gather. 

A sex offender currently living in a house or apartment that violates the ordinance will be grandfathered in and can remain in their current housing. 

A “premises where children commonly gather” is a school, day-care or child-care facility, park, playground, public swimming pool, youth center, community center, or public library.  

The new rule restricts sex offenders from 98% of the city’s residential areas, according to the Fort Worth Report. 

In 2021, Keller passed an ordinance restricting sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of places where children commonly gather. Arlington’s ordinance prohibits “habitual” sex offenders from residing 1000 feet or closer to a public park, private or public school or a day care center.