On Wednesday, the Home for Good Coaltion introduced legislation at the state level to expand housing and supportive services for people returning home from incarceration to prevent homelessness, increase public safety and save taxpayers money.
The Home for Good Coalition is comprised of 62 housing, community and reentry organizations. They are advocating for the passage of the Home for Good legislation, or Senate Bill 4162. The estimated cost for the Home for Good program is $50 million.
“Everyone deserves a home, but for decades Illinois has failed to create a statewide strategy to support those returning from prison, essentially forcing homelessness and poverty on thousands of people a year. This has an outsized impact on Black and Brown communities, who already face higher rates of over-policing and incarceration,” Ahmadou Dramé, director of the Illinois Justice Project (IJJ), said in a press statement.
On average, 15,000 people are released from prison in Illinois, and many aren’t able to find stable housing due to discrimination. In Illinois, there are more than 1,189 laws that indefinitely punish people with criminal records, most of which create barriers to employment, according to the 2020 report “Never Fully Free: The Scale and Impact of Permanent Punishments on People with Criminal Records in Illinois.”
“After leaving prison, they [formerly incarcerated people] become vulnerable to discrimination through an exclusionary human service system, rental and employment policies and laws, which fuel housing instability upon release,” Dramé continued. “Illinois can – and must – take action to create an equitable reentry strategy, which will reap long-term social and economic benefits throughout Illinois.”
According to data from the Loyola Chicago Center for Criminal Justice, nearly 70% of people have issues with securing housing and experience homelessness prior to being incarcerated.
Secure housing reduces recidivism and improves public safety, according to the coalition. Data from the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council shows that each recidivism event costs taxpayers an average of $199,011, totaling $1.1 billion annually.
“Home for Good is smart, sensible policy that also happens to be the right thing to do,” Sen. Adriane Johnson (D-30th), the legislation’s Senate sponsor, said in a news release. “At a time when we must invest every penny wisely, this program stands out as a way to save taxpayer money and improve public safety while supporting people who have not received adequate resources from our current system.”
The IJJ estimates that for every $1 invested in Home for Good, there would be $5 in public savings and “economic activity over three years. That’s a projected $477 million cost benefit within the first three years alone.”
“Illinois can’t afford to continue to look the other way when it comes to addressing homelessness and housing insecurity for people returning from prison,” Rep. Maurice West, (D-67th), House sponsor of the bill, said in a written statement. “Under the status quo, we are failing people, failing our communities and leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table every year. Home for Good establishes the required coordination, accountability, and sustained, at-scale funding that will be revolutionary for our communities.”
The Home for Good legislation includes four elements:
- Rental Assistance: The Illinois Housing Authority (IHDA) will provide rental subsidies to Illinois residents returning home from incarceration.
- Wraparound Services: The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority will provide reentry navigation, and connect people to resources and services, such as behavioral health, physical health, job training, transportation, furniture and food, childcare, and more when they return home.
- Reentry Housing Development: The IHDA will address the affordable housing shortage statewide and create economic opportunities for developers and communities affected by high incarceration rates.
- Establishes the Home for Good Institute: The IHDA will launch the Home for Good Institute, which will provide cohort-based training and technical support to community-based organizations interested in managing reentry housing.
“Because of rental assistance I received when I was released from prison, I was able to earn a living and plan my future. In a few short years, I saved up enough money to purchase a building, which now allows me to offer subsidized housing for other people who are returning to the community,” Andre Ruddock said in a statement.
He’s the founder of Returning Citizens in Memory of Henry Dee and Outreach Coordinator for the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance
“It’s not about where your story begins, it’s about where it ends,” Ruddock continued.
