# Presentation: 173916

## Homelessness and People with Criminal Records

**B. Diane Williams**
**President/CEO, Safer Foundation**
**Policy Academy for State and Local Policymakers--*****Improving Access to Mainstream Services for Families with Children Experiencing Homelessness***
**April 20, 2005**

## 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
- Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 1.5 million children in the U.S. had a parent in a state or Federal prison in1999. Almost half lived with their children before incarceration.  Over 7 million children have a parent under some form of correctional supervision
- 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

## The Problem (Cont.)

- 66 percent of recently incarcerated individuals who did not have appropriate housing recidivate 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
- In a recent New York Corporation for Supportive Housing study, recidivism rates drop a full 40 percent for people with past criminal records who receive supportive housing
- Only 9 states and the District of Columbia have supportive housing programs

## Some State Solutions

- Illinois Department of Corrections has pledged not to release any prisoner to homelessness. The Placement Resource Unit (PRU), secures transitional housing and employment for returnees who would be homeless upon release
- Hawaii’s Being Empowered and Safe Together (BEST) Reintegration Program provides returnees with housing stipends, substance abuse services, family unification support, and cognitive skills training
- Massachusetts has contracted private human services organizations to provide housing with integrated supportive services

## 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 Foundation Programs

- Not-for-profit operating in Illinois and Iowa
- Program Core Competencies
- Employment
- Life Skills
- Education
- Management Core Competencies
- Transition Centers
- Contracts
- Employer Relations
- Direct Services
- Residential and non-residential services
- Institution and community-based sites
- Serves 5,000 clients/year
- Public Policy and Advocacy

## Safer Foundation Housing: Current

- HUD’s Shelter Plus Care (S+C) fund 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 and comprehensive job placement, retention, and advancement services Safer offers through its various programs

## Safer Foundation Housing: Current (Cont.)

- Participants must also work with Safer’s Housing Director to:
- Develop long-term housing and financial plans and complete tenant-focused life skills training (including financial literacy)
- Maintain compliance with their customized drug-treatment plan
- Contribute 30 percent of their earnings to savings, and eventually, toward  rent

## Safer Foundation Housing:  Future

- Once built (Oct. 2005), Shelter Plus Care participants will move into Safer’s
- permanent housing facility where all housing services will be provided on site
***Additional leveraging of housing resources:***
- Ten project-based scattered-site Section-8 vouchers will double the number of subsidies Safer can utilize (provided by PHA)
- Ten partial subsidies will allow Safer to place additional participants in local transitional housing facilities that provide intensive substance abuse treatment (provided through DHS funds)
***Additional program components:***
- Training 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 key to self-sufficiency

## Recommended Housing Model:  Processes and Services

- With Departments of Correction, identify participants who will likely be homeless during pre-release
- Work with participants to complete pre-release treatment, employment, and housing plans.  Include DHS and housing authorities in the planning
- With community organizations and/or DHS, work with families to plan for potential family reconciliation

## Recommended Housing Model (Cont.)

- Provide multiple levels of housing options to address varying capacities to live independently:
- Family reunification/reintegration, facilitating family planning, transition, and transition supports during reentry
- Transitional Housing for those requiring housing supports for the short term reentry period, until job placement, retention, and independent living can be achieved
- Treatment-Focused Housing:  for those requiring wrap-around services to overcome substance abuse, 1-2 years
- Permanent Housing:  for those with severe substance abuse, mental illness, or chronic illness disabilities with on-site case management and housing support services
- Families offer ongoing positive support when positioned to do so

## Recommended Housing Model (Cont.)

- Create strong partnerships with:
- Community institutions to leverage grassroots networks
- State corrections, parole, and law enforcement to initiate pre-release planning and help enforce program requirements.
- DHS/DCFS to integrate family into pre and post-planning
- Landlords so that program success can leverage increased housing access
- Provide access to comprehensive employment services including:
- Targeted job readiness and job search training and resources, starting pre-release, including access to One Stops
- Appropriate transitional employment and career path opportunities
- Advancement opportunities through access to vocational training via WIA and community college opportunities

## Recommendations: Advocacy

- 	To improve housing opportunities for people with criminal records, we suggest focus in the following areas:
***Public Policy:***   Advocate for change and new legislation, such as HR 4676 (the Second Chance Act of 2004) sponsored by Congressman Davis (D-IL) and Congressman Portman (R-OH)
***Housing Policies:***   Dialogue with local PHA’s to curtail exclusions and consider documentation of rehabilitation as part of the application process
***Department of Corrections:***   Duplicate efforts in states like Illinois, Hawaii, and Massachusetts so as not to release anyone into homelessness

## Endnotes

- (1)* *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)__._
- (2) “Facts about Prisons and Prisoners,” The Sentencing Project, Conquest Offender Reintegration Ministries Online, <http://www.conquesthouse.org/prisoner%20facts.pdf>.
- (3) Second Chance Act of 2004, H.R. 4676, Section (a)(4), (5), introduced June 23, 2004.
- (4) *“*No Second Chance*”,* http:hrw.org/reports/2004/usa1104.
- (5) Linda Ostreicher, “When Prisoners Come Home,” Gotham Gazette (January 1, 2003).
- (6)  “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).