Access to housing is the biggest barrier for people coming out of jail or prison. That was the message Tuesday from more than half a dozen private and public organizations that work with former prisoners in Maine.
Their meeting at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland was designed to share resources and strategize on ways to prevent recidivism and strengthen communities as part of what the U.S. Department of Justice is calling National Reentry Week.
Randy Krog of South Portland says if it wasn’t for the kindness of his boss, he’d be homeless. He had no money to pay for an apartment lease when he got out of jail.
“My supervisor moved in with me from New Hampshire. He saved my life. Justin Brooks, huge support in my life,” Krog says.
After being addicted to pills and robbing a bank in Maine to support a habit, Krog says he now feels blessed. He spent time in federal prison, but when he got out in 2012, he says he wasn’t ready to change his life.
He violated probation and wound up being sentenced to the only federal drug court in Maine. That, he says, is what finally did it.
Krog told a panel of stakeholders who work with former inmates that drug court and peer support in his recovery is what changed his behavior.
“The structure and accountability and stuff. Like I still do a group at Catholic Charities Monday nights and I just feed off that brotherhood,” he says.
Krog’s advice to those working with former prisoners is to extend the length of stays in halfway houses. Six months, he says, is just not enough.
Laura Tait, a reentry program development specialist with U.S. Probation, says there are plenty more Randy Krogs out there. She says finding housing for them has reached a “crisis” in the Portland area and not just because rents are so high.
“For many ex-offenders, especially those that have been incarcerated for more than five years, when they come out, they don’t have a recent landlord reference, which a lot of landlords are asking for. They either have no credit or they have poor credit. And also, depending on the landlord, they may have preconceived notions about what an ex-offender is. They might fear that the person is violent or they may destroy the property, not pay the rents, those kind of stereotypes,” she says.
As a result, many former prisoners wind up in homeless shelters or couch surfing with friends. And advocates say that’s a problem because if they don’t have housing they won’t be able to stay in a job, and if they can’t stay in a job and develop positive relationships in their communities, they often wind up back in prison.
U.S. Attorney Tom Delahanty, who convened the stakeholders meeting, says he’s encouraged by how many organizations are working to address these issues.
“I think there’s a lot of energy in the room to do things and the focus from the Justice Department now is to take the resources that we have and put it into rehabilitation as opposed to covering the expenses of just housing them,” he says.
Incarcerating them, he points out, costs much more than helping them find a job or a place to live.
He says similar sessions to work on both are likely in the future.
Correction: Randy Krog was eventually sentenced to federal drug court, not state drug court.
