"Working to
Build A Better Community"
"The
probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not deter us from the
support of a cause we believe to be just."
~ Abraham Lincoln
EX-OFFENDER HOUSING DISCRIMINATION
THE BIG PICTURE: REALITY IN THE U.S.
THE REALITY IN MASSACHUSETTS
THE LAW IN MASSACHUSETTS
COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN
MASSACHUSETTS
Resource
List
COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN ACTION
▼outreach
challenges & goals /
▼networks
& awareness /
▼referral
/
▼alliance
/
▼individual
needs /
▼the
future /
GLOSSARY
overview of
research: community resources for
ex-offenders
Outreach Challenges & Goals
Mobilization around ex-offender
housing issues depends on advocacy
organizations and service
providers working on the challenges that ex-offenders and members
of other marginalized communities face. Like other marginalized groups,
ex-offenders frequently
experience what scholars and activists have described as “a synergy of
plagues” whereby a series of
individual challenges of re-entry complicate and compound each other. As
material on the
Personal
Barriers
and
Social
and Legal Barriers pages of this website
suggest, resources that target those who are
homeless, mentally ill, who live in poverty, and who may suffer from chronic
illness including HIV/AIDS, also serve ex-offenders in various phases of
post-incarceration re-entry. Different organizations may specialize in one
area of re-entry work, such as housing. Even so, there is wide
acknowledgment that related issues, such as employment and health, must
often be addressed hand-in-hand. This acknowledgment is reflected in a
growing referral network among those involved in re-entry work.
Networks & Awareness
Many advocates and service delivery organizations that are working with
other marginalized groups have
stretched their resources in order to also address the needs of
ex-offenders. This has led to the broadening and strengthening of a network
of advocates who have come to associate their work with the challenges of
ex-offender re-entry. In other words, organizations that in the past may not
have been poised to deal with the particular re-entry needs of ex-offenders
may now be working to tailor their
services to ex-offender’s needs
and endeavoring to receive necessary funding to support that work. On the
other hand, there is growing awareness that housing advocates must oppose
the established default trend of using emergency shelters as dumping grounds
for ex-offenders who lack other more suitable housing options.
Referral
Ex-offenders often need
referrals from the Department of Corrections (DOC) to avoid
landing in a shelter. Ex-offenders
must often have these DOC referrals in order to access the transitional
housing services that are best able to address their specific needs. The
fact that transitional programs are notoriously under-funded constrains
program outreach and service provision.
|
Like other marginalized groups, ex-offenders frequently experience what scholars and activists have described as “a synergy of plagues” whereby a series of individual challenges of re-entry complicate and compound each other. |
Alliance
Alliances between the DOC and transitional service providers are shifting to
address the inadequacy and inappropriateness of using shelters as dumping
grounds for ex-offenders in search of viable housing options. One specific
partnership between the DOC and transitional service providers has emerged
in the form of the Corrections Committee, sponsored by the Massachusetts
Housing and Shelter Alliance. These new partnerships are making
important (but still insufficient) efforts to incorporate the views of
ex-offenders who have personally faced the challenges of re-entry.
There have been recent moves to create institutional fire-walls between transitional service providers and Departments of Correction in order to diminish the prohibitive stigma that this association may have for ex-offenders. It is not clear if ex-offenders are nonetheless inhibited from utilizing non-governmental services to which they are referred by the Department of Corrections. Non-uptake of transitional services may also be due to lack of necessary referrals, limited resources and long wait lists. Alliances mobilizing around housing and re-entry are currently striving to address these challenges.
Services provided to ex-offenders by shelters and transitional programs must always respond to changes in funding, political shifts, and the needs of the populations they serve.