Volume 17, Issue 2

2006

 

 

This year, over 630,000 prisoners will be released from state and federal
prisons across the country—more than four times as many as were released in
1980. In this article, we examine the scope of the prisoner reentry issue—what
is known about the intersection of housing, homelessness, and reentry and
about the barriers returning prisoners face in securing safe and affordable
housing.

Although the housing challenges are formidable, progress is being made on
numerous fronts. We seek to frame the dynamics of the reentry housing discussion
by highlighting the promising strategies that are emerging. These strategies,
taken to scale, could help create a very different national policy on
prisoner reentry. Ultimately, effective reentry strategies have the potential not
only to reduce re-arrest and increase public safety, but also to reduce homelessness.