- The Fresno City Council directed the creation of an ordinance to restrict housing for sex offenders.
The ordinance could restrict the total number of group home spaces to sex offenders to 42.
City Council could approve the ordinance without knowing how many sex offenders will be left homeless.
New legal action may be coming if the Fresno City Council follows through on a ordinance restricting sex offender housing.
On Thursday, in a 6-0 vote, councilmembers directed the city attorney to craft an ordinance that requires licensing for commercial group homes and restricts the number of those homes to one per council district.
With more than 1,300 sex offenders registered in the city, and the ordinance potentially allowing no more than 42 units, “all it takes is a little arithmetic,” said Janice Bellucci, a Sacramento attorney who advocates for the rights of sex offenders.
For many registrants required to live within the city, that could mean homelessness, Bellucci said.
“There’s right now almost 1,400 people on the registry living in the city of Fresno and it’s possible that it could reduce that number to 42 that are living under a roof,” Bellucci said. “It’s not going to limit the number of people who actually reside there because there are people, for example, who are on parole that have to be living in the city of Fresno.”
Bellucci, a member of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, said her group would sue the city if it passes an ordinance limiting housing. The alliance sued Fresno County in January for a rule limiting the number of sex offender residents in a single home.
City Needs to Act in Response to Decriminalization: Karbassi
Not every registrant lives in a group home, as many live in hotels, with family, or other housing, Fresno City
Councilmember Mike Karbassi, who sponsored the resolution, told GV Wire.
Karbassi, however, didn’t know how many group homes exist or how many sex offenders live in a commercial group home setting.
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Bellucci said old data from the federal government shows a 5% recidivism rate over the lifetime of an offender.
For many on the registry, rehabilitation works, Bellucci said, and limiting housing keeps parolees from stable housing. Cases such as Funston’s are extreme cases, she said.
It is concerning that the Fresno City Council voted 6-0 in October 2026 to direct the drafting of the SHIELD Act ordinance. By capping commercial group homes to one per council district (allowing a maximum of 42 beds citywide), the city is creating a severe housing deficit for the nearly 1,400 registered individuals under legal obligation to reside in Fresno. As established in In re Taylor (2015)—which struck down residency restrictions from 2006’s Proposition 83—local regulations that produce blanket geographic exclusion amount to unconstitutional banishment. Unlike Douglas Adams’ humorous premise of ’42’ as the ultimate answer to everything, restricting housing to 42 beds provides no real solution to public safety and invites immediate constitutional litigation.
@Janice is just getting warmed up for this…she was challenged and don’t see why she won’t happily accept it.
This makes absolutely no sense. Just because in the law anyone with a s.o. is not included in the discrimination clause crap or whatever you wanna call it. So you’re going to ban and illegalize homelessness? Okay sure… develop the programs to help them first right? No just throw em in jail and then they can figure it out afterwards. Kentucky done this and they KNOW theres no funding for the programs. And even if there is it usually goes to single mother’s. So let’s restrict housing on a mass scale for no real reason, then ban homelessness, increase reporting schemes, make it more likely to go to jail AGAIN, and not fund the programs to help the people that are actually are homeless. Oh not to mention the insurance and food stamps that they need already because they are unemployed. These politicians are so out of touch with reality. Sounds like they either need to be permanently removed from office or they need to have a major reality check. For some people it’s hard perceive things for what ever reason. You have to be in the person’s shoes to experience being on the registry. I’ve invited people to just pretend for a DAY to get their feet wet on how it is to live like if you were on the registry. Constantly having tk check your distant from everything. Constantly scared of being rearrested just because some cop finds an excuse. Push from job to job. Having to report and hope you don’t get locked up every time for no reason. False accusations. Loss of jobs, a place to live, friends and family….. it’s honestly sickening to read that this is the new political agenda. You might as well ban them from being in your city at that point. Pretending for a day… that’s a drop in the bucket. Try pretending for 2 weeks and see where your stress level goes. Might as well live out of a cardboard box in the woods somewhere. Politicians constantly want the money for themselves and never use common sense anymore as to how government should be run as a business and not a personal bank account. Minimal government is a good government….and for good reason. There’s so much corruption these days it’s honestly disheartening.
I can see it or something similar coming. Breaking News: Fresno council members are outraged that registrants are homeless and can’t be tracked putting public safety at risk. Just think of the victims, since registrants can’t be rehabilitated and they can pat themselves on the back.
Fresno either needs a new city council or be declared a dump since it’s filled with crackheads in and out of city hall. Funny we could have moved to Fresno in the late 1980s and I’m grateful we decided on Omaha, NE ( Nebraska, not New England).
The only way Fresno council knows how many registrants there are in the city and in group housing is via the registry. Thus, the city is using the registry to remove the equality of freedom by limiting the occupancy size for group housing. Can you imagine if Fresno stated that there could only be a limit of 42 asians or blacks in group housing? There would be an uproar!
Then the collateral result is creating more homelessness. And the only reason they are going to be homeless is being on the registry.
This occupancy control is a sick form of banishment via use of the registry. This goes beyond the intended statutory aims of the registry and a grave misuse of power. Again, if this was applied to asians or blacks, then Fresno would be sued for millions in a civil action! In fact, take Fresno to court and have them prove the 80% or higher recidivism rate and disprove the 5% or lower recidivism rate. Make this court admit SCOTUS was profusely incorrect in utilizing the ‘frightening and high’ recidivism rate of 80% or higher.