WPA’s Housing Toolkit is designed to offer techniques, resources and skills that are helpful in finding housing solutions for individuals and families with criminal justice involvement. We also provide information and resources on major legislation and advocacy that affects the development of public policy in this arena.
What We Know
The WPA Approach
- Direct Services
- Policy Advocacy
Policy and Legislation
Tools from WPA
- WPA Housing Manual for Individuals and Service Providers (PDF)
- Reentry Housing Needs: The WPA Housing Approach (PowerPoint)
- NYC Re-entry Housing Roundtable Policy Recommendations (PDF)
Other Resources
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What We Know
It has been well documented that the United States has an affordable housing crisis. This crisis has particularly chilling effects on the lives of individuals formerly incarcerated who are reentering their communities. Ineligibility for housing subsidies, bars from public housing and certain parole regulations make it difficult for people reentering the community from prison or jail to find housing, let alone afford it. For not-for-profit and social service agencies serving people making the transition home, tackling the ‘housing problem’ requires innovation, creativity and a tremendous amount of patience and tenacity.
- At the end of 2004, 104,848 women were incarcerated in the state and federal prisons, still representing the fastest growing prison population in the U.S. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin:
Prisoners in 2004.)
- 15 to 27% percent of prisoners expect to go to homeless shelters upon release from prison. (Human Rights Watch Report: No Second Chance: People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing.)
- According to the Re-Entry Policy Council:
- Homelessness is prevalent among people released from prison and jail.
- There is insufficient affordable housing available to people coming out of prison.
- Of the affordable housing available, people with criminal records often are not eligible for it.
- Families can often provide an immediate source of safe housing to people released from prison, but doing so may mean risking the entire family’s tenancy in publicly subsidized housing.
- Transitional and supportive housing options may facilitate a successful re-entry, but they are not available in sufficient supply.
- In some cases, a woman’s parole stipulations may also affect her housing options. For example, if she has a friend who is willing to house her for some period of time, this may not be an option if her friend is also on parole or has had criminal justice involvement. Often Parole prohibits parolees from living together.
- “While affordable housing covers many different income levels and price ranges, what makes housing ‘affordable’ is the rent or mortgage payment relative to the individual's or family's income. According to the federal government, rental housing is ‘affordable’ if the people living there pay no more than 30 percent of their income for rent. According to mortgage lenders, a home is affordable if the mortgage payment is not more than 35 percent of the borrower's income. So, what's affordable depends on income.” (Los Angeles Housing Department:
Building Healthy Communities 101.)
- To find the cost of housing in your area, click here.
- The types of subsidized housing options for women making the transition from prison or jail include:
- Federally Subsidized Housing (Section 8)
- City Subsidized Housing (local Housing Authorities)
- Transitional Housing
- Supportive Housing
- Single Room Occupancy (SRO)
(For a complete list of housing options, see the Report of the Re-Entry Policy Council.)
- Policies and laws affecting housing for women with criminal records
- “The exclusion of people with certain criminal records from public housing and the massive impact of that exclusion reflects the intersection of two discrete public policies in the U.S.—public housing policy and criminal justice policy. In concert they operate to exclude those with criminal records from housing designed to meet the needs of those unable to afford housing on their own. Ineligibility for public housing is just one of many ‘collateral consequences’ or forms of ‘invisible punishment’ that continue to affect people with criminal records long after they have completed any sentence they received for their offense.” (Human Rights Watch Report: No Second Chance: People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing.)
- “In determining eligibility for public housing, the federal laws give local public housing agencies discretion to deny eligibility to virtually anyone with a criminal background. However, local housing agencies set public housing policy, not state law. In a majority of states, public housing authorities consider arrest records that did not lead to conviction in determining eligibility for public housing.” (Legal Action Center: After Prison: Roadblocks to Reentry.)
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The WPA Approach
WPA addresses barriers to housing for women leaving the criminal justice system by offering direct services and working towards broader changes in important housing policy and laws.
Direct Services
The Women’s Prison Association works to address the housing crisis for formerly incarcerated women on several fronts: pre-release planning for women currently incarcerated, housing readiness assessment and housing search assistance once women are released, partnerships with colleagues to provide emergency shelter, directly providing short-term emergency and transitional housing, and providing permanent housing for single women in resident-governed houses in Brooklyn, NY.
WPA helps women who have urgent housing needs by placing them in short-term supported housing while working on a plan to achieve greater stability. Women then focus on defining long-term housing goals and WPA staff helps them plan and take steps toward achieving those goals. For example, WPA has or connects women to transitional housing where they can also take advantage of case management and other supports that help them improve earnings, connect with family, take care of health and mental health needs, maintain sobriety, and comply with criminal justice requirements. WPA staff help women move on to permanent housing in the community, including our innovative resident-run houses for employed, formerly-incarcerated women.
Read more about WPA’s Housing services:
Policy Advocacy
In addition to providing direct services to women returning home from prison and jail, WPA and the Institute on Women & Criminal Justice actively promote policies and practices that would expand housing opportunities for criminal justice-involved women. We pursue this advocacy on several fronts:
- Collaboration with government partners: Since 2003, WPA has participated in an innovative initiative spearheaded jointly by the New York City Commissioners of Correction and Homeless Services. This ongoing effort has brought together a diverse group of service providers and government officials to reduce the number of people who cycle through NYC’s shelter and jail systems.
- Coalition building with advocates and service providers: WPA is a founding member of the Re-entry Housing Roundtable, a coalition of criminal justice and housing service providers and advocates in New York City, coordinated by the Corporation for Supportive Housing. The Roundtable has produced a set of policy recommendations aimed at reducing barriers to housing for people formerly incarcerated.
- Directly affected women’s advocacy: Through the Women’s Advocacy Project, a program of the Institute on Women & Criminal Justice, women who have had direct experience with the criminal justice system can work to change the policies that affect their lives. In 2003, the Women’s Advocacy Project created policy recommendations for improving discharge planning from prisons and jail. For many women returning to the community from incarceration, discharge planning is the first gateway to housing.
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Policy and Legislation
- In 2004, members of Congress introduced the bipartisan Second Chance Act. Sections of the bill pertaining to housing call for “structured post-release housing and transitional housing, including group homes for recovering substance abusers, through which offenders are provided supervision and services immediately following reentry into the community [and] assisting offenders in securing permanent housing upon release or following a stay in transitional housing.”
- Direct links to tracking and analysis of key housing policies and legislation by:
- National Alliance to End Homelessness
- National Low Income Housing Coalition
- Corporation for Supportive Housing
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Tools from WPA
- WPA Housing Manual: The WPA Housing Manual is a hands-on guide for service providers and individuals navigating the housing process.
- Reentry Housing Needs: A slideshow presentation created for an online event with the Government Innovators Network at Harvard University.
- Re-entry Housing Policy Recommendations: Recommendations aimed at reducing barriers to housing for people formerly incarcerated, developed by the NYC Re-entry Housing Roundtable (coordinated by the Corporation for Supportive Housing).
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Resources
Reports
From Locked Up to Locked Out: Creating and Implementing Post-release Housing for Ex-prisoners (AIDS Housing of Washington)
No Second Chance: People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing (Human Rights Watch)
After Prison: Roadblocks to Reentry (Legal Action Center)
New Beginnings: The Need for Supportive Housing for Previously Incarcerated People (Corporation for Supportive Housing and Common Ground Community)
Organizations
Common Ground Community
Corporation for Supportive Housing
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Housing Conference
National Low-Income Housing Coalition
Other Housing Resources and Tools
Diagram of Obstacles to Re-Entry (Real Cost of Prisons)
Fair Housing Information Sheet: Reasonable Accommodations For Tenant Posing A “Direct Threat” To Others (Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law)
Reentry.net
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)
U.S. Housing and Urban Development
