This week Portsmouth city council was left facing a repairs bill running to thousands of pounds after angry mobs targeted the homes of alleged and convicted paedophiles on the Pulsgrove estate.
A family of four was forced into hiding on Monday after a crowd of 150 descended on their council home, smashing windows with bricks and stones.
The previous week the home of a 53-year-old convicted sex offender on the same estate was targeted by an angry mob after his identity was published by the News of the World. It is understood he had already gone into hiding.
A local campaign, led by Portsmouth North MP Sydney Rapson, is attempting to force the council to evict all sex offenders from its homes.
A council spokeswoman said: "We can understand parents being very concerned about this but we have no grounds to refuse someone a tenancy on the grounds that they previously committed a crime."
She added: "I do not think for a minute that we are alone in this. I imagine this is being repeated all over the country."
Local Government Association policy officer Jeanette York pointed out that special rules already govern the accommodation of the most serious and high-risk offenders.
The News of the World has since dropped its campaign, and the government has ruled out giving the public the right to know the location of convicted sex offenders.
Officials are in the meantime researching services for sex offenders, including the link between housing and employment.
A Home Office spokesman confirmed that a steering group was looking at the rehabilitiation of dangerous offenders. "As part of that we are carrying out an audit of what accommodation is available for these offenders and whether there is a need as a result for new accommodation."
Source
Housing Today
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