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There’s No Place Like Home: Importance of Housing Stability for Reentry

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Abstract

Research suggests a number of barriers to successful reentry for justice-involved individuals, even after a short period of detention in jail. The challenges are well-documented, with housing being one of the most salient needs returning citizens face (Lutze et al., 2014; O’Brien, 2001; Roman and Travis, 2004). Estimates of housing instability and homelessness vary widely (Metraux & Culhane, 2006; Schlay & Rossi, 1992) as those incarcerated and those who are homeless are considered “hard-to-reach” populations (Umamaheswar, 2018). This is important as housing instability can have direct consequences for reoffending behavior, and stable housing has been shown to reduce recidivism (Bobashev et al., 2009; Lutze et al., 2014; Metraux & Culhane, 2004; Steiner et al., 2015). The current study employs a unique sample of male and female inmates in a jail reentry program to examine the prevalence of housing instability and the circumstances that led to said housing issues. This study fills a gap in the previous literature by making a distinction among those who are more stably housed, precariously housed, and literally homeless. We discuss the consequences of housing instability as well as important policy implications for this population.

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Notes

  1. It should be noted that the coefficients in McNeeley’s two housing models were not significantly different.

  2. Date of arrest was missing at random for approximately half of our sample. The inclusion of this variable in the multivariate analyses did not impact the overall findings of the current study. Supplemental analyses available upon request.

  3. Multicollinearity was examined by computing the variance inflation factor (VIF) for housing status, employment, public assistance, education, and drug use. The VIFs for these variables were low (ranging from 1.005 to 1.064) indicating that multicollinearity was not a problem for the model.

  4. Some respondents indicated more than one reason.

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  1. Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, Kennesaw State University, 402 Bartow Ave MD 2204, Kennesaw, GA, 30144, USA

    Beverly Reece & Tanja Link

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  1. Beverly Reece
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Correspondence to Beverly Reece.

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Reece, B., Link, T. There’s No Place Like Home: Importance of Housing Stability for Reentry. Am J Crim Just 48, 1008–1027 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-023-09734-8

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