Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DECEMBER 2016
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We thank them for their
support but acknowledge that the findings and conclusions presented in the report
are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
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Criminal Records
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Conclusion
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Endnotes
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INTRODUCTION
When justice-involved people cant find stable housing, they have a
much harder time finding and keeping jobs, maintaining their health
and pursuing educational opportunities -the very things that make
recidivism less likely, communities safer, and families healthier.
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LaShanna Tyson
can remember being released from prison in 2011,
Ireally
with dreams of going back to college, working
hard at my job, and going home to my own
Have You or Any Person Who Will Be Occupying the Apt. Ever Been Convicted,
Charged, Arrested, Indicted, Plead Guilty or No Contest, or Received Deferred
Adjudication or Probation to (A) Any Felony? Or (B) Any Misdemeanor Involving
a Sexual Offense, Stalking Illegal Use or Possession of Weapons, Assault, Batter,
Theft, Fraud, Bad Checks, Criminal Damage to Property, Trespass, Vandalism,
Illegal Possession or Sale of Drugs?
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LOCAL BARRIERS
Local housing policies and practices create
additional hurdles to public housing for
justice-involved individuals and their
families. What follows is an overview of
homelessness as well as criminal records
restrictions in several American cities of
interest to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Some promising municipal and state
initiatives that are working to overcome
these barriers are described later in this
report:
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a)
b)
c)
d)
b)
c)
any history of initiating
threats or behaving in a
manner indicating an intent to
assault employees or other
tenants;
d)
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a)
b)
Is there a history of
any drug-related or violent
criminal activity which would
adversely affect the health,
safety, well-being or right
of peaceful enjoyment of the
premises by current residents
or SAHA employees?
c)
d)
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For people with criminal justice system involvement, discrimination occurs in many ways
and in all housing types- affordable, supportive, private, market, housing authority. The
supply of truly affordable housing is extremely scarce, so there is enormous demand.
Landlords, therefore, have the luxury of being selective when choosing tenants.
Oftentimes, landlords use a screen-out based on conviction history, not on current risk,
as a first method for reducing their number of eligible applicants.
People returning to the community and deemed ineligible for housing are also looking
to secure employment, build or repair credit, and manage the trauma from incarceration,
making reentry very difficult. Landlords using blanket bans based on conviction history,
rather than individualized assessments, disproportionately preclude people of color
who are statistically incarcerated at higher rates. The Fortune Society hopes our lawsuit
will be one of the many ways we remove barriers for people coming home, allowing
them to be assets to their communities.
JoAnne Page, CEO and President of The Fortune Society
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O
LOS ANGELES: In Los Angeles
Reentry Family Rehabilitation Pilot,
formerly incarcerated people can
reunite with families that receive Section
8 housing assistance (i.e., Housing
Choice Vouchers). The assisted family
must approve the admission. Justiceinvolved family members are required
to participate in reentry supportive
services provided by community-based
organizations and/or public agencies
that have been selected by the Housing
Authority of the City of Los Angeles.
O MINNEAPOLIS: Minneapolis Public
Housing Authority (MPHA) recently
initiated a project with Beacon Interfaith
Housing Collaborative and Better Futures
Minnesota to provide training, family
unification, employment, and housing
assistance to formerly incarcerated
men. Program participants receive a
Project Based Voucher for housing with
Beacon and Better Futures provides all
of the support services that will allow
participants to become self-sufficient,
be engaged with their children, and live
in safe and affordable housing.
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NEW HAVEN: Since 2008 the
Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH)
has run the Moving to Work initiative54,
which was established to provide twelve
formerly incarcerated individuals with
preferential placement on the public
housing waitlist.
Additionally, the
program supports certain individuals
returning to their families who live in
public housing. Individuals are required
to complete an action plan, receive case
management services, and must work a
minimum of 14 hours each week, enroll
in a job training program, or enroll in
a treatment program if they are not
disabled.
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OAKLAND: The Oakland Housing
Authority (OHA) operates a transitional
housing program called MOMS (Maximizing
Opportunities for Mothers to Succeed) to
connect incarcerated mothers in the Santa
Rita Jail to housing in OHA. To be eligible
for the program, mothers must participate
in counseling, education and employment
programming as well as receive case
management services over a 12 month
period. Upon completing the program they
can apply for permanent housing without
any consideration of their criminal history.
The program has been fairly small but more
recently has been expanded to set aside
more housing units for men leaving jail,
the DADS (Dads Acquiring and Developing
Skills) program.
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SEATTLE: In June 2016, the City
Council and Mayor adopted a resolution
to promote the use of an individualized
tenant assessment as a best practice for
ensuring a landlord used the Fair Housing
Acts anti-discriminatory standards when
criminal history is used as a tenant
screening criterion.56 The resolution
offers several recommendations to
housing providers that include:
a)
Prohibiting advertisements
for rental housing that make
people with criminal records
ineligible to apply.
b)
c)
Requiring consideration,
prior to denial, of additional,
verifiable information provided
by the applicant regarding
the criminal record and/or
changed circumstances or
good conduct since the time
of conviction.
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
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CONCLUSION
Housing is an essential foundation for successful reentry and also a critical part of family preservation.
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ENDNOTES
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