A 19-year old law regulating where sex-offense registrants may live has generated criticism in the age of COVID-19, where it is preventing those who have served their time from attaining housing and driving many into the shelter system. Under the state’s 2001 Sexual Assault Reform Act, or SARA, large sections of the city are classified as unlivable for registrants due to the physical location of schools. The result is few options for these New Yorkers, with many drifting into the shelter system where they risk exposure to COVID-19, or simply living on the streets, reports The Appeal.

The Legal Aid Society and public advocates are pressing New York to update rules dictating where sex offense registrants may reside. Even the areas currently allowed are unclear, as the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) does not make the mapping software it uses to measure distance of a residence to schools available.

“With all of the modern technology available to the department I can’t understand why they can’t set up a system whereby a parolee could learn whether an address is SARA-compliant before negotiating a lease,” says Robert Newman, a staff attorney at New York City’s Legal Aid Society.