The People is our section for opinions and perspectives. Submit your opinion to info@thetriibe.com.
In 2021, I learned that Henry Dee, a respected elder I had admired while incarcerated, had been released from prison and was living in a homeless shelter after spending nearly half a century behind bars. This news disturbed me deeply, and I decided I wanted to help.
Through my relationship with Housing Choice Partners, I was able to help Henry secure his own apartment in Midlothian, a southwest suburb of Chicago, in March of 2022. And with the support of my wife Rochelle, our friend and longtime prison chaplain Lori Wilbert, and others who cared about Henry’s transition home, we worked to make that apartment feel like a home.
However, Henry never moved in. Unfortunately, after decades of incarceration, Henry struggled with the reality of living alone. The institutionalization of nearly 50 years in prison made the transition overwhelming so he remained at the shelter, unable to live in the home we worked so hard to secure for him.
That experience forced me to confront how deeply incarceration impacts people long after release, especially older individuals returning home after decades inside. Because of it, I founded Returning Citizens in Memory of Henry Dee (RCHD), and I have worked to improve the reentry process ever since, continuing to help people not just return home but return home to a community ready to welcome them.
Illinois now has an opportunity to take this approach to scale, offering similar opportunities to thousands by passing Home for Good (HB624). This legislation is designed to create stronger communities across Illinois by improving housing and support services for people returning from prison to prevent homelessness, increase public safety and save taxpayers money.
When I returned home from prison myself in 2021, I benefited from key programming including financial literacy, computer training, and basic life-skills programming, all of which gave me a foundation to begin rebuilding my life after entering prison at 16 years old and returning home at 44.
But the same thing that was missing from Henry’s return was missing from mine: community, a real support system rooted in trust, shared experience, and belonging. Looking back, I know how powerful it would have been to return home into a community like that. Everyone returning from prison needs a firm foundation to succeed as they reenter society, and that foundation begins with stable housing.
This is exactly what Home for Good provides.
The legislation consists of four primary components: expanding rental assistance; increasing wraparound services provided by community-based reentry organizations like RCHD; developing more reentry housing units; and creation of the Home for Good Institute, which will provide assistance to community-based organizations interested in developing and operating reentry housing.
Home for Good is community-driven and was crafted with input from formerly incarcerated people and housing providers who have identified flaws and gaps in the current system based on their own experience.
Amidst our campaign to pass Home for Good, I was once again reminded about why we need to insist that our lawmakers pass this bill.
Just weeks ago, a 55-year-old Chicago man who had served two decades in prison reached out to RCHD for support after being granted a resentencing. There was a possibility that he would be released from prison immediately. Though the outcome was uncertain, I used my contacts at Housing Choice Partners once again to start working on a release plan.
When the judge ultimately resentenced the man to time served on March 25, 2026, that support structure was already waiting for him. I picked him up from prison myself. We secured him a rental subsidy – the kind that Home for Good will expand if passed. Today, he has signed a lease, received the keys to his own two-bedroom apartment this month, and will move into a fully furnished home in the southwest suburbs through a partnership between RCHD and Digs With Dignity. This is what a coordinated reentry strategy looks like in action.
As it stands, Illinois has no statewide coordinated strategy to deliver this kind of response to people returning from state prison. Organizations like RCHD operate in silos on a small scale, when what is needed is a sustained, formalized approach to ensure successful reentry. We know these programs work. It’s time for Illinois to make a smart investment by expanding and formalizing these programs through legislation like Home for Good.
There’s a moment of joy: I’ve now helped more than two dozen people experience through RCHD. It happens in those first quiet moments alone in a new home. That’s when it truly hits you that you’ve made it from a prison cell to your own front door. For people who have spent years surviving institutions designed to strip away dignity and independence, that moment is more than housing. It’s restoration. It’s stability. It’s humanity. There are no words for that. Home for Good is needed to make sure that moment happens again and again and again.
