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HUD Juvenile Reentry Efforts and other Related Accomplishments

Presented to

The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

November 15, 2016

— Overview —

Agency Mission:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) mission is to create strong, 

sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen 

the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable 

rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable 

communities free from discrimination, and transform the way HUD does business.

Significant Program Coordination and Collaboration with other Federal Agencies:

Consistent with its mission, HUD has adopted a “Department of Opportunity” agenda for providing 

families and youth with greater access to opportunities and resources necessary to advance in life. This 

effort includes supporting returning citizens. By utilizing housing as a platform, HUD is working 

closely with other federal agencies to leverage additional supportive services for the population that we 

serve. Accomplishments to date include the following:

1. The Juvenile Reentry Assistance Program (JRAP) – serving youth under the age of 24 

Today, an estimated 60,000 youths under age 24 are confined in juvenile detention and correctional 

facilities, with hundreds of thousands more on probation. Having a criminal record severely limits a 

person’s ability to seek higher education, find good employment, qualify for credit and secure 

affordable housing. These collateral consequences create unnecessary barriers to economic opportunity 

and productivity.

HUD and the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

(DOJ/OJJDP) have partnered to improve outcomes for this population by creating JRAP. HUD 

received $2 million from DOJ/OJJDP, and in 2016, awarded 21 grants to Public Housing Authorities 

(PHAs) that have partnered with nonprofits legal services to: 

 Expunge, seal or correct juvenile or criminal records;
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 Support mitigation or prevention of collateral consequences that – including reinstating 

suspended drivers’ license, and counseling on legal rights and obligations in searching for 

employment; and, 

 Bolster additional leverage – National Bar Association pledged 4,000 hours of pro bono legal 

services vis-à-vis the Department’s collaboration with My Brother’s Keeper.

Progress to date includes the following:

 Eighteen (18) grantees completed their first quarter of grant-funded activity on September 

30. Just under 100 youth (count = 99) have been provided legal counsel and assistance.

 Grantees also have steadily forged new partnerships with juvenile court judges and magistrates, 

juvenile probation offices, an array of local supportive service providers and local pro bono 

efforts in order to deepen and expand implementation of their JRAP projects.

 For further information, please see the attached JRAP Fact Sheet and “Examples of PHA-based 

Reentry Programs that Support Youth”. 

2. Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program

 On August 22, HUD published a notice of funding availability for a new Youth Homelessness 

Demonstration Program, which will fund $33 million to up to 10 communities; the application 

period closes on November 30.

 The purpose of the demonstration is to learn how communities can successfully approach the 

goal of preventing and ending youth homelessness by building comprehensive systems of care 

for young people.

 Effective cross-sector partnerships are the cornerstone of a strong Youth Homelessness 

Demonstration Program (YHDP) application. A central requirement of the Demonstration is 

that each selected community will develop a coordinated community plan to prevent and end 

youth homelessness. HUD has placed an emphasis on including what may be nontraditional 

partners across sectors, particularly youth serving systems like juvenile justice.

 Juvenile corrections and probation is among the list of key partners identified as crucial to 

contributing to a successful Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program implementation.

3. Guidance for Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and Owners of Federally-Assisted Housing on 

Excluding the Use of Arrest Records in Housing Decisions (Fair Housing Guidance)

 In November 2015, HUD announced guidance that informs PHAs and owners of other 

federally-assisted housing that arrest records may not be the basis for denying admission, 

terminating assistance or evicting. 

 The Guidance states that an arrest may be used as a “trigger” to see what happened, but that 

denial of housing must be based on conduct not an arrest.

 HUD reiterated that the Department does not require adoption of “One Strike” policies. 

Disqualification for public or assisted housing is mandatory only under limited circumstances 

for specific types of criminal activity (i.e., registration on a lifetime sex offender registry and 

conviction for producing methamphetamine on public housing property). 

4. Office of General Counsel Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use 

of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transactions 
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 In April 2016, HUD issued guidance that explains that a housing provider violates the Fair 

Housing Act if:

o The housing provider intentionally treats individuals with a comparable criminal history 

differently because of their race, national origin, or another protected characteristic (i.e. 

disparate treatment); or 

o The housing provider’s criminal history policy disproportionately excludes members of 

one or more protected classes without a legally sufficient justification (i.e., disparate 

impact discrimination).

 The guidance reiterated that policies which exclude persons based on criminal history must be 

tailored to serve the housing provider’s substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest and 

take into consideration such factors as the type of the crime and the length of the time since 

conviction. 

5. HUD-assisted Housing Reentry Toolkit 

 In June 2016, HUD published a toolkit for PHAs and other stakeholders, which

o Summarizes different reentry models implemented by PHAs across the country;

o Outlines how PHAs could begin to build a reentry program locally; and

o Describes the core elements of successful partnerships and collaboration.

6. HUD Reentry Working Group

 In November 2016, HUD established a Department-wide Reentry Working Group comprised of 

career staff to—

1) Provide a formal structure to support and sustain the Department’s commitments to the 

Federal Interagency Reentry Council, and

2) Identify additional barriers for returning citizens, including youth, that the Department 

may address through coordinated efforts. 

Next Steps – Addressing Sustainability:

Continued collaboration is necessary and critical to sustaining HUD reentry efforts. As such, HUD 

will continue to broker partnerships with other federal agencies and organizations to leverage resources 

and opportunities available for returning citizens. Examples of sustainability efforts include the 

following:

 Expanding the HUD-DOJ JRAP Community of Practice (ongoing);

 Two webinars presented to reentry industry groups on the Fair Housing Guidance - hosted by 

the Shriver Center, DOJ, and HUD (August 2016 and October 2016); 

 Reentry convening highlighting promising practices of PHAs implementing reentry programs, 

co-sponsored with the Vera Institute of Justice (11/15/16); 

 Collaborating with the Department of Labor (DOL) and DOJ on the National Clean Slate 

Clearing House Working Group (ongoing);

 Collaborating with DOL and the National Endowment for the Arts to support additional 

employment opportunities and innovative outreach strategies for JRAP partners (ongoing);
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 Providing technical assistance to PHAs to expand local reentry-based program models 

(ongoing); and,

 Active participation on core federal interagency working groups:

o The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preventions – Lead 

Agency, DOJ

o The Federal Interagency Reentry Council – Lead Agency, DOJ

o Forum on Youth Violence Prevention – Lead Agency, DOJ

o Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs – Lead Agency, Health and Human 

Services

Challenges:

 Securing future federal funding to support JRAP programmatic work.

 Allocating additional resources and FTEs necessary to maximize program support and technical 

assistance.

 Measuring impact and success.

Strategies and approaches for other Federal Agency Consideration:

 Establish a sustainability strategy at the beginning of federal interagency collaboration –

particularly where funding will be critical to the success of the effort.

 Prioritize defining how success will be measured and the resources necessary to achieve success 

(i.e. staff, technical assistance, data-sharing, etc.).

 Ensure that there is always a transition plan for HUD’s reentry work between Administrations. 

Further Information on HUD Juvenile Reentry and other Related Accomplishments: visit 

www.hud.gov; contact Mr. Ron Ashford, Director of Community and Supportive Service, Office of 

Public and Indian Housing, HUD - 202-402-4258, Ronald.T.Ashford@hud.gov; and refer to the attached 

HUD documents.

Attachment
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Examples of PHA-based Reentry Programs that Support Youth

 New York City Housing Authority

o The Family Re-entry Pilot Program is a collaborative effort of the New York City 

Housing Authority (NYCHA), NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the Vera 

Institute of Justice, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and 13 nonprofit reentry 

service providers. The program is designed to reunite individuals leaving prison and/or 

jail with their families who live in NYCHA public housing and to provide them with reentry services. Participants are granted permission to reside in the household while they 

are enrolled in the program. At the end of two years, if the pilot participant successfully 

completes the requirements of the program and has not engaged in further criminal 

activity, their family can request that the participant be added to the NYCHA household 

on a permanent basis. The participant must work with a case manager for a minimum of 

six months and must successfully complete individual case plan goals. Goals may 

include obtaining employment or attending relevant treatment programs.

o Eligible participants are individuals 16 or older hoping to reunite with their families 

currently residing in a NYCHA development, and who may otherwise be unable to join 

a NYCHA household due to their history of criminal offenses. 

o The following individuals are ineligible to participate: 

 Persons subject to a lifetime state sex offender registration

 Persons convicted of producing methamphetamine in public housing. 

 Persons currently engaged in illegal drug use or alcohol abuse that could threaten

other residents’ or employees’ health and safety, and are not participating in a 

rehabilitation program. 

 Persons evicted from federally assisted housing within the last three years for 

drug-related crimes and who have not completed a rehabilitation program or 

cannot demonstrate changed circumstances.

 King County Housing Authority (Washington)

o Passage Point, seeks to stabilize hard-to-house families with a parent exiting jail or 

prison. These families might otherwise cycle through the criminal justice, housing and 

homeless service, child welfare, mental health, and substance use disorder treatment 

systems at great cost to the community. Its ultimate goal is to help participants become 

confident parents, obtain meaningful employment, and successfully transition to 

permanent housing with their children. Each year, the King County Housing Authority

(KCHA) allocates 46 project-based vouchers to single parents who will be homeless 

upon exiting the criminal justice system. The vouchers provide participants and their 

children access to a one- or two-bedroom apartment in a single multifamily unit building 

through which the Passage Point program operates.
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o Passage Point serves single parents of both genders who are exiting the criminal justice 

system and identified through intensive outreach and community referrals. Prospective 

participants go through a rigorous screening process that includes an application, child 

reunification assessment, and housing voucher approval. 

o To be eligible for the program, one must be at least 17 years of age, have a child under 

the age of 18, and have a reasonable chance of reuniting with one’s child/children if one 

does not have custody at the time of admission.

o Additionally, one must have been released from a correctional facility into King County 

within a reasonable amount of time and one must be considered homeless at the time of 

application to Passage Point. Candidates must also meet household size requirements, 

sign an agreement with the YWCA for housing and case management, and demonstrate 

the ability to make changes and work toward self-sufficiency.