"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
Resources For Ex-offenders and Professionals Assisting Ex-offenders in
Search of Housing
The contacts that are included in
the Resource List for Ex-Offenders and Advocates Assisting Ex-offenders
in Search of Housing emerged through research undertaken by a team of
Northeastern law students during the winter and spring of 2004.
Students sought to specifically highlight advocacy and service delivery
organizations relevant to ex-offender access to housing. Students
conducted library work, Internet searches and fieldwork
(participant-observation and semi-structured interviews) among those working
with overnight shelter services, housing access, legal services, re-entry
alliances, the legislature, city government, departments of correction and
public housing authorities to identify salient themes and information
regarding services, sources of funding, challenges, achievements and
organizational visions.
This resource list has been synthesized for ex-offenders and for professionals working to facilitate access to housing for ex-offenders in the greater Boston area. It provides detailed contact, service and referral information. While this list is not comprehensive and does not include reference to every organization or agency that assists ex-offenders with the search for housing, it reflects many of the resources relied upon by ex-offender advocates in the field.
|
Alliances between the Department of Corrections 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. |
Coming Home: A Resource Directory
The resource list updates and builds upon the list compiled by the
Prisoners Re-entry Working Group for its 2002 catalogue, Coming Home: A
Resource Directory for Ex-Offenders Returning to Greater Boston Communities,
in a section on “housing.” The list also incorporates agencies and service
providers referred to by activists and advocates working in the Greater
Boston area, including those resources recognized by the Stanley Jones Clean
Slate Project.
The Coming Home directory is a compilation of over 300 agencies, organizations, churches, and individuals referred to by advocates and ex-offenders now active in re-entry advocacy. This directory is comprised of resources for ex-offenders focused on housing access, in addition to other issues that ex-offenders face during re-entry (i.e. AIDS/HIV, education, emergency assistance, employment, faith-based community connections, food, hotlines, legal aid, medical and mental health, as well as information on multi-service agencies, support groups, and thrift shops). The Coming Home directory is now available on-line. To access the Coming Home directory, click here.
Resources for Ex-Offenders & Advocates
Again, while students sought to specifically highlight
advocacy and service delivery organizations relevant to ex-offender access
to housing, many addressed housing as but one knot in larger net of vital
support services ex-offenders required upon re-entry.
The contacts included in this list have been organized into seven resource categories:
(1) Overnight Shelter Services
(2) Housing Access Agencies and Other Service Providers
(3) Legal Services
(4) Advocacy Organizations and Alliances
(5) Political Contacts
(6) Governmental Authorities
(7) Public Housing Authorities.
The resources
included in this list only begin to reflect the more encompassing net of
services provided by a re-entry advocacy community in Boston. Other pages in
this website reflect how shifting political and social views on
criminalization, rehabilitation, and broad societal responsibility to assist
ex-offenders with re-entry affect the housing challenges that ex-offenders
face. This list also includes a non-exhaustive list of political, legal, and
academic contacts addressing these important issues. To a limited degree,
this list also reflects how issues of employment, mental and physical
health, education, substance abuse, and legal status are inter-related with
the challenges ex-offenders face in the process of a housing search.
To view the Resource List for Ex-Offenders and Advocates Assisting
Ex-Offenders in Search of Housing,
click
here.