# Presentation: 139901

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

**Anthony Lowery**
**Housing Director**
**Safer Foundation**

## 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.

## 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**_

## 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

## 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.

## 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

## 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.

## 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

## 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**

## 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**.**

##   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%)

## 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](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%20facts.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).