Policy Statement 19, Recommendation E
Identify the appropriate housing option for each incarcerated individual well in advance of release.
Where an individual is not returning to live with family members (or it is unclear whether this would be a viable option), transition planners should work with appropriate community-based partners to evaluate other potential housing opportunities. Just as they may have interviewed family members concerning the possibility of the incarcerated family member moving home, community supervision staff, possibly in conjunction with local law enforcement, can provide transition planners with preliminary determinations regarding the appropriateness of postrelease housing plans identified by individuals who will be released on probation or parole. Community-based service providers can be key resources for transition planners seeking to find nonfamily housing alternatives, especially for those individuals with special needs.
Example: Mentally Ill Offender Community Transition Program, Seattle Mental Health Community Reintegration Services (WA)
The Mentally Ill Offender Community Transition Program provides pre-release planning, housing, and case management to people with a diagnosed mental illness in the Washington corrections system. A program case manager meets in prison with individuals referred to the program by the Department of Corrections. Inmates admitted to the program must participate in a three-month pre-release program including a needs assessment, healthcare appointments, and contact with other assigned service providers.
It is important to consider both long- and short-term housing options. For example, if transition planners determine that programmatic or transitional housing is the most appropriate form of housing for the inmate immediately after release, they need to then consider how long the program will last, or how long the individual will be allowed to stay at the transitional home.
Example: Cornerstone Program, San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center (CA)
This program provides housing, mental health, and benefit-identifying services to homeless adults who have severe and persistent mental illnesses and are leaving the Los Angeles County jail.‘žThe Cornerstone Program contracts for 25 emergency beds with a Los Angeles family housing shelter and has a memo of understanding with a landlord who finds short- and medium-term housing for program participants. The landlord remodels appropriate buildings and rents them to Cornerstone for slightly over market value. Because Cornerstone rents each building in its entirety, staff members are able to decide who moves into each unit. Cornerstone Program also owns nine duplexes, which it rents to participants for 30 percent of their income. Through the AB2034 Bill, the Cornerstone Program has 85 Section 8 vouchers to distribute amongst program participants. (See sidebar for more information on AB2034). AB2034 also provides the Cornerstone Program with funds to place participants in hotels and motels on an emergency basis.
Notably, using one form of housing in the transition plan can subsequently preclude a person from availing himself or herself of other kinds of subsidized housing at a later date. For example, an individual leaving prison or jail who obtains a private apartment may later realize that he or she needs supportive housing. Because this individual is no longer homeless (having obtained an apartment), however, he or she may not be able to access supportive housing since eligibility for supportive housing is often restricted to people presently and officially deemed homeless. For this reason, corrections staff and service providers shold plan for not only immediate, but also permanent and future housing options.
Ultimately, it is the job of transition planners to collaborate with community-based housing providers to ensure that each inmate is promptly evaluated for, and ideally accepted into, the appropriate housing option and any needed services.
Example: Community Orientation and Re-Entry Program, New York State Office of Mental Health, Department of Correctional Services, and Division of Parole; and NYC Link, New York City Department of Health and Hygiene
Inmates across New York who are identified as having serious and persistent mental illnesses and who will return to the greater New York metropolitan area are transferred approximately 90 to 120 days prior to release to the Community Orientation and Re-Entry Program (CORP) unit at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Office of Mental Health (OMH) staff work with transition case managers from New York City Link (a program of the New York City Department of Health and Hygiene) to complete applications and facilitate referrals of program participants to supportive housing providers with vacancies in New York City. CORP staff completes the paperwork and NYC Link staff arranges interviews for housing providers (and sometimes accompanies them to the jails to conduct those interviews). When individuals are denied placements, OMH and NYC Link staff conference with the housing providers to analyze the reasons for rejection and to devise a suitable housing solution.
Example: Transition Services Unit, Multnomah County Department of Community Justice (OR)
The Transition Services Unit (TSU) staff make contact with a re-entering individual one year prior to his or her release, at which point they conduct an assessment of housing needs. TSU staff then place individuals on waiting lists for appropriate housing, which they determine in close partnership with the county office of Facilities and Property Management. If an individual is eligible, TSU staff help him or her begin the application process for Supplemental Security Insurance.