How Do People Released From Prison Find Housing?
Among all releases to community supervision in New York state during 2021 (not just those released from prisons), about 23 percent went directly to shelters, according to the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision; another 8 percent were “undomiciled,” or went to places like halfway houses and hotels.
This is a real issue since a lot of landlords don’t want felon renters. This isn’t just a new York issue. This is occurring all over the US. Coupled with inflation, rich people driving real estate prices by moving to suburbs and country areas, someone just released is going to have an extremely difficult time finding housing and paying for it.
This, along with access to basic financial resources (i.e., bank accounts, auto loans, etc.) … is a substantial issue & I wonder if there haven’t been efforts by the gov’t or non-profits to fund re-entry guarantor assistance not dissimilar to the tax incentives offered to hire formerly incarcerated persons. Seems like a little could have a big positive social impact.