Homeless Services

In the critical days and weeks after leaving incarceration, what a person needs most is a safe, stable place to live - not a shelter, which steeply increases a person’s chance of re-incarceration. Yet government policies and rules deny housing assistance to most formerly incarcerated people until they qualify as “homeless” - that is, until they spend months in shelters or on the streets.

We are advocating for policy reforms that would count time in prison and jail toward eligibility for government housing services. With these reforms, a person would not have to spend months in unstable, high-risk conditions right after leaving incarceration. Formerly incarcerated people could immediately begin building secure, stable lives.