Housing, homelessness and the criminal legal system

This section offers a deeper dive into the systemic context for cycles of incarceration and homelessness, including a discussion of the barriers people face to successful reentry, and the importance of understanding trauma.

“Kevin Brooks hopes he won’t have to go to a homeless shelter. In 1999, Mr. Brooks and four others were arrested and charged with murder, and he was eventually sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Now 52, more mature and remorseful, he has a clean disciplinary record and a bachelor’s degree. He believes he has a good shot at getting out after he appears before the parole board in January 2024.

He’s less confident about where he’ll live.

… next year around this time, Mr. Brooks figures he is likely to join thousands of other formerly incarcerated people who will leave prison and have nowhere to live.”

End the cycle of homelessness and incarceration

The intersection of housing and mass incarceration can be observed on both macro and micro levels. On the macro level, racial disparities observed across the criminal legal system are driven in part by a history of housing and economic disenfranchisement in Black and brown communities. Discriminatory housing practices, including redlining and urban renewal, not only established lasting patterns of residential segregation, but also codified racial biases that still impact property values, policing and neighborhood safety today.,

Government policies such as the War on Crime and the War on Drugs were often racially biased and resulted in the overpolicing of communities of color. At the same time, community investments and supports decreased. These policies created lasting physical and economic harm, while also sending a counterproductive and destructive message to young people of color that carries weight to this day.

In a 2023 study titled “Two Battlefields”: Opps, Cops, and NYC Youth Gun Culture from the Center for Justice Innovation regarding why youth in certain urban areas carry guns, one young person stated, “We’re viewed as Black kids, hoodlums that ain’t got no home training, and they want to put us away. They treat us bad. Even if we aren’t doing anything, they’re going to bother us. Even if we’re just sitting down chilling, they’re still going to bother us. To them, we are the guns. We are the weapons.”

Another young person stated: “I really feel like it all boils down to poverty. … I feel like if there was more opportunities to make money than the streets, other than selling drugs and stuff like that, then … people wouldn’t resort to beefing with each other, having bad attitudes, having crimes going on and resorting to gun violence.”

Housing status and poverty are key determinants for who is detained post-arrest and thus presumed innocent. Studies show that people who are homeless are more likely to have bail set, preventing their release from jail during pendency. This presents a major challenge for people who are homeless as nearly any amount of bail may be impossible to pay.

A national study by the Prison Policy Initiative, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2023, shows that the median amount of bail someone would have to post to be released on a felony matter is $10,000 – an amount that is completely out of reach for many people. The inability to post bail means the person remains in detainment for the entire pendency. For those who are employed and/or have housing, they could lose it all in the time it takes to resolve, which could also impact their family.

A 2020 study of 21 states revealed an average case resolution time of 193 days for misdemeanors and 256 days for felony matters. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shutdowns only exacerbated lengthy processing times nationwide. Notably, most people in local jails have not been convicted of the crime for which they are detained, and are instead pending trial or other resolution, such as a dismissal or acquittal.

Ninety-five percent of people who have been incarcerated come back to their communities, regardless of whether they have safe and stable housing. Those who are fortunate to have a support network and a safe place to live have the foundation on which to rebuild their lives and thrive in a myriad of ways. As The Fortune Society’s President and CEO, Stanley Richards, explained, having a home upon his release from prison meant that his son could leave kinship foster care and live with him. Mr. Richards was hired by The Fortune Society, starting as a counselor. He rose through the ranks all the way to CEO while building a national reputation in his field, including being named one of the “Champions of Change” by President Barack Obama. Mr. Richards is the architect of Fortune's original drop-in center in Queens Plaza, which helps people released from Rikers Island, often in the middle of the night. Stable housing provided Mr. Richards with the foundation to build his family – his wife of 32 years, four children, and a host of grandchildren – while giving back to the community he was born and raised in, the Bronx.

Certainly, people lacking that same foundational support can still achieve success, but it is far more difficult and exacts a much higher toll on one’s emotional and mental wellbeing than it should. Kandra Clark is one example of this. After being released from prison, Ms. Clark earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees while working a full-time job. She now serves as Vice President of policy & strategy for the nonprofit Exodus Transitional Community in New York City. This is a major accomplishment for anyone, under any circumstances; however, Ms. Clark achieved all this while sleeping on friends’ couches for years, during what she described as an “exhausting and defeating” search for affordable housing, as her applications were continuously rejected based on her criminal record.

Income plays a crucial role in the connection between incarceration and housing insecurity. People who have been incarcerated are more likely to have had low incomes pre-incarceration, heightening their susceptibility to housing instability. Moreover, a history of incarceration tends to further diminish one's income post-release. Research indicates that individuals with a history of incarceration experience a 40% decrease in their annual income. Consequently, there is a strong correlation between housing insecurity and incarceration.

Further, people who have been incarcerated are likely to have little, no, or very poor credit history. They also may have no rental references or rental history to support their application.

It is also difficult for people who were incarcerated to find stable housing. Statistics reveal that people who were incarcerated are twice as likely to relocate more than once annually, and are nearly 10 times more likely to experience homelessness compared to the general public. Although the risk of homelessness peaks within the initial two years following release, it persists for years, underscoring the urgent need for accessible housing with supportive services upon reentry.

Unfortunately, many individuals who have experienced incarceration and confront homelessness, or are at risk of it, encounter additional hurdles in obtaining housing due to competition for scarce spots and difficulty qualifying for programs. Such practices are not only inequitable but also financially unsound. Studies have shown that providing housing is more cost-effective, both in the short and long term, compared to relying on emergency shelters.

Barriers to successful reentry

Upon release from prison, many people are again faced with the significant challenge posed by a lack of financial resources. They were more likely to have been low-income at the time of their incarceration, and will typically leave prison with few to no financial resources.

Finding employment can be a tremendous undertaking, primarily due to pervasive discrimination based on their conviction history. An analysis of over five million formerly incarcerated people revealed an unemployment rate of 27% – higher than the total unemployment rate in the U.S. during any period. These findings are particularly distressing when placed in context of the exceptional efforts many formerly incarcerated people make to find work and support themselves and their families. As the same study noted, a higher percentage of formerly incarcerated people (93%) were working or actively seeking work, than people who had not been incarcerated (83%).

Another key reason why so many people who were incarcerated struggle to obtain employment is due to the fact that they do not meet the educational requirements. One study reveals that over half of the people leaving incarceration nationally report their highest level of education earned to be high school equivalency. Of this group, 75% earned the credential while incarcerated; the remaining 25% have not been able to reach that level of educational attainment. There are many complex reasons for this including the school-to-prison pipeline and lack of funding for educational programs in prisons.

Wage garnishments due to debts that accumulated during their prison time, such as child support, are another financial hurdle people released from prison may face. Alphonso Washington was fortunate to find a job upon his release after serving 12 years in prison; however, during his prison time, he accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt in the form of back child support that he had no way of paying. All but approximately $100 of his paychecks were garnished, which made paying rent impossible. Mr. Washington would have remained in the New York City shelter system had he not connected with The Fortune Society’s supportive housing program. The Fortune Academy in Harlem provided him with the foundation necessary to get his affairs in order. Now, nearly nine years post-release, Mr. Washington has remarried, maintained steady employment in the social services field, and lives in his own affordable apartment in Castle Gardens – a property developed by Fortune that provides a mix of permanent supportive housing for people who have been impacted by the criminal justice system, and affordable housing for people with income at or below 60% of the AMI (A. Washington, personal communication, March 30, 2023).

People leaving incarceration also frequently face physical health challenges due to the inadequate medical treatment provided in jails and prisons and, in many cases, inequitable health access prior to their incarceration. In fact, “Because of the disadvantages affecting people in prison prior to their incarceration and the health-suppressing effects of imprisonment, incarcerated people are considered elderly from the age of 50.”

For people who are released from prison without stable housing, it can be nearly impossible to coordinate medical care and appointments, or take proper care of themselves in terms of nutrition, managing medication timing, getting adequate rest, and so much more. As Alphonso Washington noted, based on his experience as a transitional care specialist, “If we provide an individual access to housing first, they can connect with the services in their community that will keep them out of the emergency room.” (A. Washington, personal communication, March 30, 2023).

Trauma, design and resilience

In addition to the barriers described above, many people leaving incarceration may be struggling to overcome the effects of trauma. As defined by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, “Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”

Among incarcerated women, 98% have experienced trauma, and the rate of trauma exposure among incarcerated men ranges from 62% to 87%. When left unaddressed, trauma can impact our physical health and disrupt everyday skills such as problem solving, managing priorities or building relationships. Individual trauma can be caused not only by discrete events, but also by the stress of trying to survive under emotionally and physically challenging conditions, including those produced by socio-economic circumstances.

“Food scarcity, discrimination, racially biased encounters with police officers, risk of homelessness ... and job loss can also have long-lasting traumatic effects.” Given the disproportionate number of Black and brown people who are incarcerated, it is not surprising that people who have been incarcerated are also more likely to have experienced trauma prior to their incarceration.

Recognizing the widespread prevalence of trauma and its effects on individual and community health, models of trauma-informed care are widely used in the fields of healthcare, education and other disciplines. “Trauma-informed care is a framework that considers how trauma impacts us, including our beliefs, emotions, and relationships. It reframes our perspective on a person, community, or situation from ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What happened to you?’”

For example, in the context of providing medical care, taking a trauma-informed approach can mean creating a safe and welcoming environment. One simple yet effective way this can be done in this context is training all applicant-facing staff on the use of humanizing language, instead of commonly used pejorative terms for people with convictions.

Building on these models, Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) partnered with affordable housing residents, frontline staff and community partners to develop Trauma-Informed Housing. Applying trauma-informed care to the housing industry “centers on the lived experiences of residents and uses intentional design to create housing that is inclusive, safe and non-triggering,” ultimately increasing the likelihood of success in establishing stable housing for people who were formerly incarcerated.

Examples of trauma-informed design in practice include flexible, accessible and well-lit common spaces that promote a sense of safety and foster intentional and chance interactions among community members; clear entrance and exit signs throughout a building (enhances mood and well-being); use of cool colors for painting common spaces (inspires calm); allowing and even encouraging residents to decorate their units.

Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS), a nonprofit architecture and real estate development firm in Oakland, California, always engages community members in their design process as part of their implementation of a trauma-informed approach to housing development. When developing spaces that will serve people impacted by the criminal legal system, they bring on a local resident who has been impacted by the system as an advisor (B. Mack & A. Wong, personal communication, July 24, 2023).

Resilience is the ability to adjust and thrive when confronted with adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or high levels of stress. A review of research shows that 58% to 83% of people who have survived trauma report positive changes in beliefs and behavior, what is known as “post-traumatic growth.” This shows that with the right support, people can and do succeed – even thrive – regardless of past traumas.