The Issue

Helping people released from prisons or jails to find safe places to live is critical to reducing homelessness and crime and to ensuring stable housing situations for the children, families, and neighbors of released prisoners. Research has shown that people who do not find stable housing in the community are more likely to recidivate than those who do: according to a qualitative study by the Vera Institute of Justice, people released from prison and jail to parole, who entered homeless shelters in New York City, were seven times more likely to abscond during the first month after release than those who had some form of housing.¹

Government agencies responsible for supervising people sentenced to jail, prison, or community supervision and those agencies responsible for facilitating or providing suitable housing to released prisoners have a shared interest in enhanced collaboration. Yet, housing agencies are often not significantly engaged in reentry issues. They may not perceive the need to serve people released from prisons and jails or be fully informed of the special challenges facing this population. In addition, corrections officials may not always be aware of the complexity of housing systems, or know how they can contribute resources and support to collaborative efforts to find and maintain appropriate housing for releasees and their families.

The Response

The Justice Center, with funding support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is coordinating a project that will help corrections and human services administrators, housing officials, state legislators, and other relevant policymakers and practitioners address access to appropriate housing for people released from prisons and jails. To maximize the value of the products that the Justice Center publishes, the Justice Center staff has engaged housing and service agencies at all levels of government, along with corrections administrators and state officials. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Open Society Institute have provided additional support for this project.

To learn more about the online tool and publications, click here.

Contact

Shawn Rogers
Policy Analyst
Council of State Governments Justice Center
srogers@csg.org
tel: (212) 482-5745
fax: (212) 482-2344

¹ Marta Nelson, Perry Deess, and Charlotte Allen, The First Month Out: Post-Incarceration Experiences in New York City (New York, NY: Vera Institute of Justice, 1999).