Second Chances: Housing and Services for

Re-entering Prisoners

National Alliance to End Homelessness Annual Conference

Nikki Delgado

Program ManagerCorporation for Supportive Housing

July 10, 2007www.csh.org

Our Mission

CSH helps communities create permanent housing with services to prevent and end homelessness.

What Is Supportive Housing?

A cost-effective combination of permanent, affordable housing with services that helps people live more stable, productive lives.

Ohio Prison Statistics

As of June 2007– 49,199 people incarcerated

2006 Releases – 28,448– 13,904 released without supervision requirements

2006 Returns– 2,153 for parole/post release control violations

2006 Admissions– 28,714

Housing Alternatives for Offenders

Halfway House (early 1970’s)– provide supervision and treatment services

• released from state prisons, referred by Courts of Common Pleas, or sanctioned because of a violation of conditions of supervision

• provide services such as drug and alcohol treatment, electronic monitoring, job placement, educational programs, and specialized programs for sex offenders and mentally ill offenders

Independent Housing (2004)– provide housing, some limited monitoring of residents, case

management and community referrals for services– offenders with no viable home placement options – stabilized and have moderate to low programming needs– voluntary

Halfway House

Three classifications– Level I – Transitional

• Includes assessment, case planning and management, and referral and monitoring of program compliance.

• Offender transferred to nonresidential supervision as soon as possible.

– Level II – Intensive• Includes education advancement, life skills, employment

readiness and placement and substance abuse treatment

– Level III - Intensive Residential Treatment• receives intensive residential treatment within a long-term

therapeutic environment

• provides clinical services for treatment of serious mental illness

Independent Housing

University of Cincinnati study– Offenders with low risk to re-offend don’t benefit from

residential treatment– Tend to recidivize @ higher rates

Housing option for low risk/low need offenders on supervision

90-day program Expected outcomes

– Place to live– Steady income

Why Supportive Housing

In 2002, ODRC produced its Ohio Plan for Productive Offender and Reentry and Recidivism Reduction. – Developing a seamless and successful transition of

offenders from prison to the community– Enhancing public safety– Equipping offenders with marketable skills thereby enabling

them to be productively employed and contributing members of their community

– Provide offenders with effective life coping skills for successfully transitioning to the community

– Reduce victimization– Reduce recidivism

Create supportive housing for ex-offenders as part of an overall re-entry strategy to assist the ODRC in its stated goals:

175 offenders with mental illness were released into homelessness over a 9-month period in 2004.

Approximately 520 additional offenders under post release control have been identified through ODRC’s Residential Placement program as being released without a placement plan.

Pilot with ODRC and Ohio Department of Mental Health for seriously mentally ill– Short term

Why Supportive Housing – cont’d

Permanent Supportive Housing

Returning Home – Ohio Supportive Housing Pilot – Collaboration between the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation

and Correction and Corporation for Supportive Housing• Office of Parole and Community Services

– Bureau of Community Sanctions

• Office of Policy and Offender Reentry

– serve offenders being released from Ohio’s correctional institutions.

– aims to prevent homelessness and reduce recidivism

Target Population

Identified as chronically homeless or likely to become homeless

Priority to offenders identified as being most likely to require supportive services

– severely mentally ill– developmentally disabled– severely addicted– aged– have custody of minor children

Current Status

The program became operational in March 2007. Nine providers have agreed to participate (3 in

Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, 2 in Toledo, 2 in Cleveland)

21 individuals have been identified by ODRC and are in the process being assessed by the providers.

Five people have been housed since mid-March 1 person abandoned housing within a week

Challenges

Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is large and fragmented

Identifying single person within institution for referrals

Educating institution staff Identifying providers in community Identifying viable housing options Public education process