Bridging justice and housing: Programs that collaborate to disrupt the prison-homelessness cycle
In 2023, the Housing Solutions Lab collaborated with the Center for Justice Innovation on an exploratory research project examining policy and program innovations at the intersection of housing and criminal justice. You can read our criminal justice page here. Click below to access our full report on the topic.
As part of this effort, we conducted a landscape scan of programs that collaborate across agencies to disrupt the link between justice involvement and housing instability across the United States. Drawing on our existing networks of practitioners and internet searches for programs in different regions, we compiled a table of 55 program examples.
Programs are grouped into four descriptive categories discussed in the report: expanding access to existing housing, connecting criminal justice-involved people to resources and support, increasing housing supply, and preventing criminal justice involvement. Use the arrows next to each category to sort the table by program name, intervention category, state, geography covered, organizing agency names, and special funding notes. See the last two columns on the table for a link to our sources and a description of each program. To read the program summary, click on the plus sign found at the beginning of each row.
Housing and criminal justice solutions
This appendix provides a snapshot of programs addressing the housing-criminal justice nexus. While not exhaustive, it illustrates the wide range of approaches housing and criminal justice agencies and their partners are taking to disrupt the cycle of housing instability and criminal justice involvement for program participants.