Housing — a circuit breaker for recidivism
Each night in Australia, more than 122,000 people experience homelessness. Among them, a growing number are ex-prisoners.
This cohort faces the stressful challenge of finding housing post release, combined with the hardship and trauma of incarceration and reintegrating into everyday life. Plans for post-release housing often delayed or deferred, leaving ex-prisoners with little to no expectation of being housed on release, forced to struggle through dangerous forms of temporary accommodation.
With 33% of prison entrants experiencing homelessness prior to entry (AHURI 2021) and almost half of prisoners expected to experience homelessness upon release (AIWH 2024), a return to homelessness and insecure housing creates a higher propensity of reoffending, resulting in a lack of reintegration into society and a strain on services. To break this cycle more housing is needed, housing that is stable, supportive and empowers a path to success. This is how Homes for Homes creates enduring change.
Through the kindness and generosity of our community, Homes for Homes has granted close to $3 million to the creation 28 social and affordable housing projects, proving more than 400 people experiencing disadvantage the chance to positively change their lives. In 2021 $100,000 was granted to a project by CHC (Community Housing Canberra) to provide 2 x 2-bedroom properties for women from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds transitioning from incarceration back into the community.
Projects like this not only provide women with safe and stable refuge, but a foundation where they can begin to rebuild their lives, reconnect with their children and reduce their risk of reoffending. Mandy* moved into the CHC property after exiting the justice system in Canberra. Since Mandy has resided in the property, she is now close to her family, children and local shops, and is working to achieve her goals of reunification, employment and independence. Research by AHURI (2021) reflects this situation, reporting a decrease of time in custody by 11.2%, predicted police incidents by 8.9% and court appearances by 7.6% per year thanks to public housing. Public housing saved nearly $5k initially in justice system costs, and after five years generated a net benefit of $5.2k-$35k relative to the cost of supporting ex-prisoners in private rental and/or through homelessness services.
Social and affordable housing is a proven solution that can help people experiencing homelessness, marginalisation and disadvantage in any circumstance take meaningful steps to a brighter future. Registering your property with Homes for Homes ensures that more people can take this step and we can end homelessness in Australia.
*Name changed for privacy.