Slide1

Policy Academy 9: Reentry and Its Realities for Prisoners, Families, and
Communities

Anthony Lowery

Housing Dirctor

Safer Foundation

Slide2

Safer Foundation Mission

Since 1972, the mission of the Safer Foundation has been to reduce
recidivism by supporting, through a full spectrum of services, the
efforts of former offenders to become productive, law-abiding members of
the community.

Slide3

Safer's Direct Services

Employment -- Job Preparedness, Placement, Retention

Models/Program Designs:

Chicago-based Title XX

Job Preparedness Training

Sheridan (Sheridan Correctional Center; statewide)

Ready4Work

Transitional Employment Program / Pivotal Staffing Services, LLC

Education -- Literacy, GED, Adult Basic Education

Models/Program Designs:

PACE (Cook County Jail)

Youth Empowerment Program (Chicago)

ABE/GED Classes -- ATCs, Harvey, Rock Island, Davenport

Supportive Services -- Case Management, Linkages, Specialty Programs

Life Skills

Parenting

Linkages with many providers; examples include Adler School of
Psychology, Access Health Care and Clinic, and Cook County Hospital

Residential

Crossroads and North Lawndale ATCs, 550 capacity, including housing,
minimum security, work release, substance abuse treatment, and education

Ten permanent housing units for people who are homeless with a chronic
disability and a criminal record

Policy & Advocacy

Slide 4

The Problem

Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has increased by 76.5 percent
from 200,000 in 19701 to 1,500,000 in 20042

Every year in the U.S., over 600,000 people are released from
correctional facilities

15 to 27 percent (90,000--162,000) expect to go to homeless shelters
upon release3

Public Housing Authorities provide 2.7 million units of affordable
housing to the 6.5 million that need access

Over the last 5 years, 3.5 million people have been classified
ineligible for public housing because of criminal records4

66 percent of recently incarcerated individuals who did not have
appropriate housing recidivated within the first 12 months of release5

Compared with the national recidivism rate of 66 percent, only 25
percent of those who received supportive housing recidivated in the same
time period6

Slide 5

Safer Foundation Housing Story

In January of 2005, with the rate of recidivism in Illinois at an
all-time high of 54%, the Safer Foundation embarked on testing a model
housing initiative for recent returnees as a means to increase
employability and decrease recidivism.

The Safer Foundation estimates that over half of its 8,000 yearly
clientele has housing-related issues, ranging from homelessness to
living in unsafe or drug/crime-infested housing.

Slide 6

Project Scope

To develop a model that provides permanent housing with supportive
services, to integrate into the full spectrum of Safer Foundation
services that increase stability and facilitate successful community
re-entry for recently incarcerated individuals

Slide 7

Safer Foundation Housing: Current

HUD's Shelter Plus Care (S+C) funding provides full rental subsidies to
10 recently incarcerated individuals with substance abuse disabilities
in a scattered-site model.

Participants are recruited from Safer's work-release programs and
Safer's pre-employment program at Sheridan Correctional Center.

Participants are then enrolled in Safer's Ready4Work program for its
complimentary community/faith-based approach to case management and
mentoring.

Participants are mandated to participate in Safer's Job Readiness
Training, as well as comprehensive job placement, retention, and
advancement services Safer offers through its various programs.

Slide 8

Safer Foundation Housing:\
Effective Practices

Residents work with Safer's Housing Director to:

Develop long-term housing and financial plans and complete
tenant-focused life skills training (including financial literacy)

Develop a therapeutic family through bimonthly group meetings

Maintain compliance through intensive case management, with customized
drug treatment plans

Contribute 30 percent of their earnings to savings and, eventually, to
rent

Slide 9

Preliminary Outcomes on 10 Housing Units\
January 1, 2005--October 1, 2005

Program Services

Client Financial and Housing Plans 14

Monthly Home Visits 157 (average 2 per month)

Case Management Sessions 119 (average 3 per month)

Biweekly Group Meetings 12

Education and Training 11

Faith-based Mentoring 70 (average 2 per month)

Housing Referral Services

Attending Outpatient Treatment 13

Attending Self-help Meetings 8

Program Compliance

Re-arrests/Recidivism 0

Program Terminations 5

Employment

Job Starts 9

30-day Retention 7

60-day Retention 4

Average Wage \$9.12

Savings Accounts 3

Slide 10

Safer Foundation Housing: Future

Shelter Plus Care participants will move into Safer's permanent housing
facility, once it is built (January 2006), where all housing services
will be provided on site.

Additional leveraging of housing resources:

We are in preliminary negotiations with the Chicago Housing Choice
Voucher Program for the granting of 10 project-based Section 8 vouchers,
which would double the number of subsidies Safer could utilize for
housing placements.

Additional partial subsidies through City of Chicago Department of
Housing funds will allow Safer to place participants in local
transitional housing facilities that provide intensive substance abuse
treatment.

Additional program components:

Training is provided around apartment/home maintenance, credit repair,
financial literacy, and home ownership.

IDA saving plans will be available to all housing participants to
increase their savings and attainment of financial goals as a key to
self-sufficiency.

Slide 11

Future Recommendations

To provide multiple levels of housing options through our initiative and
network of linkage agreements, with supportive services to address
varying capacities for recently incarcerated individuals to live
independently:

Transitional housing for those requiring housing supports for the short
term reentry period, until job placement, retention, and independent
living can be achieved (estimated 30%)

Treatment-focused housing for those requiring wraparound services to
overcome substance abuse (1--2 years; estimated 30--40%)

Permanent housing for those with severe substance abuse, mental illness,
or chronic illness disabilities with onsite case management and housing
support services (estimated 20--30%)

Slide 12

Endnotes

Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice, "Prisoners in
2002," Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin: Department of Justice,
July 2003 <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/p02.pdf>.

"Facts about Prisons and Prisoners," The Sentencing Project, Conquest
Offender Reintegration Ministries Online,
[http://www.conquesthouse.org/prisoner%20facts.pdf](http://www.conquesthouse.org/prisoner facts.pdf).

Second Chance Act of 2004, H.R. 4676, Section (a)(4), (5), introduced
June 23, 2004.

"No Second Chance," http:hrw.org/reports/2004/usa1104.

Linda Ostreicher, "When Prisoners Come Home," Gotham Gazette (January 1,
2003).

"Safe at Home: A Reference Guide for Public Housing Officials on the
Federal Housing Laws, Regarding Admission and Eviction Standards for
People with Criminal Records," Legal Action Center (due for publication
Spring 2005).