Parish sued by landlord over sex offender housing ordinance
Nola.com reports, “A landlord in St. Tammany Parish who rented to registered sex offenders is now suing the parish over an ordinance regulating housing that is rented to sex offenders, arguing the regulations violate his constitutional rights.
“The ordinance, which the St. Tammany Parish Council adopted in the spring of 2024, defines a property where more than 15% of residents are registered sex offenders as “transitional housing” and requires its owner to build a six-foot privacy fence, pay the parish a $5,000 fee annually and have a limit of one occupant per 1,000 square feet. The owner also has to apply for a Transitional Facility Permit from the parish and the facility will be subject to inspections by the parish.”
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Call this what it is – an attempt to chase all registrants out of the area, coming on the heels of a supposed attack on an unarmed person by a supposed unnamed registrant.
Yet I don’t see how such an attack would have been prevented by charging the (supposed) registrant’s landlord $5k per year and limiting him to one tenant per 1000 square feet (you know, like Louisiana prisons).
I wouldn’t be surprised if the plaintiff here is a slumlord renting to registrants well above market value for lack of any other registry compliant housing available. But even so, I hope he makes the parish council choke on this idiotic ordinance.
I wish the Landlord much luck!