About the Report The Report, Part II: Review of the Re-Entry Process:

chapters and policy statements:
About the Report of the Re-Entry Council

19: Housing

Facilitate a person's access to stable housing upon his or her re-entry into the community.

Overview

Full Overview »
Housing, while addressed only briefly during intake, is a subject that becomes keenly important as a person prepares to leave a correctional facility and return to the community. Once a release decision has been made and a release date is known, transition planners should assess each individual's housing situation and begin seeking housing placement options that are appropriate for the particular needs and strengths assessed.

Research Highlights

Recommendations

  1. Ensure that transition planners, working with community-based organizations, are familiar with the full range of housing options available in each community and maintain lists or inventories of available housing.
  2. Determine on an individualized basis the particular housing needs for each person released from prison or jail.
  3. Evaluate the feasibility, safety, and appropriateness of an individual living with family members after his or her release from prison or jail.
  4. Ensure that family violence risks are recognized and addressed in the housing plan of any person whose return to the community may pose a risk to the individual or to his or her family or partner.
  5. Identify the appropriate housing option for each incarcerated individual well in advance of release.
  6. Educate prisoners about strategies for finding and maintaining housing in the community, and teach them about their legal rights as tenants in the private rental market.
  7. Provide individuals who are entering the private rental market-and who demonstrate that they are without adequate resources to pay rent-with small stipends and/or housing assistance for the period immediately after release.
  8. Tap state and local funding used for traditional public safety and criminal justice purposes and leverage those resources to finance the development of supportive housing.
  9. Develop "re-entry housing," to meet the specific and unique needs of people released from prison or jail.
  10. Encourage private sector or nonprofit housing developers or community-based organizations to develop housing accessible to people leaving prison or jail.
  11. Consider individuals leaving prison or jail who have histories of homelessness as part of the homeless priority population, to facilitate their access to supportive housing made available under the McKinney-Vento Act.
  12. Coordinate with the local Public Housing Authority (PHA) to determine the eligibility of people leaving prison or jail for publicly managed or Section 8 housing.

Related Policy Statements

 Our Publications

Public Housing Authorities and Prisoner Re-Entry

A growing number of people are released each year from state prison and local jails; this phenomenon, prisoner reentry, has a significant impact on housing programs administered by PHAs, including public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), and other programs.

Homelessness and Prisoner Reentry

Many people released from prison or jail are at risk for homelessness, which can increase the likelihood that they will commit new crimes and return to prison.

Related Information

Issue Area:
Reentry and Housing

Program Example:
California: Ex-Felon Employment Initiative
San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and National Economic Development and Law Center

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