Housing for the Justice-Involved: The Case for County Action
Housing for the Justice-Involved: The Case for County Action
The nation’s 3,069 counties operate 91 per cent of the country’s jails, filtering nearly 11 million people through the criminal justice system each year. The vast majority of incarcerated individuals — nearly 95 per cent — will eventually return home. Finding safe and affordable housing is crucial to their successful reentry, but is all too often a major challenge for justice-involved individuals. With combined annual budgets of nearly $93 billion in criminal justice and public safety, and billions more spent annually on housing and community services, counties are uniquely positioned to impact reentry housing practice and policy.
By encouraging innovative budgeting, collaboration across agencies, and the development of cutting-edge social services, PRI and the National Association of Counties (NACo) are laying the foundations for effective county action on reentry housing.