Related Work

Finding housing is hard—but for people leaving prison and jail, it’s almost impossible

We need to open doors for people reentering society, not shut them.

In recent years, however, there has been growing momentum to ease restrictions around housing for formerly incarcerated individuals. In 2017, Vera launched the Opening Doors to Public Housing initiative to expand access to housing for people with conviction histories. Now, with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistan...

Blog Post
  • Jack W. Duran
    Jack W. Duran
August 30, 2018
Blog Post

Opening Doors

Safely Increasing Access to Public Housing for People with Conviction Histories

For more than 600,000 people leaving prison and the nearly 11 million cycling through jails annually, research shows that safe, affordable housing is essential for them to succeed after they are released. While all public housing authorities (PHAs) must, by law, place lifetime exclusions on people who are lifetime-registered sex offenders or who ha...

Publication
  • Brian Walsh, Jessica Jensen
August 30, 2018
Publication

Opening Doors

How to develop reentry programs using examples from public housing authorities

A growing number of public housing authorities (PHAs) across the country are implementing reentry programs and changing their policies to help formerly incarcerated people secure housing. This report highlights 11 PHAs doing this work and examines best practices and lessons learned from their experiences—including key factors of program design and ...

Publication
  • John Bae, Kate Finley, Margaret diZerega
September 29, 2017
Publication

Report to the New York City Housing Authority

Applying and Lifting Permanent Exclusions for Criminal Conduct

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is conducting an internal review of its policies related to permanent exclusions for criminal conduct on NYCHA property.  Permanent exclusion (PE) occurs when a NYCHA tenant—rather than risk eviction—enters into a stipulation that those associated with the resident who have engaged in non-desirable behavi...

Publication
  • Margaret diZerega, John Bae
February 08, 2017
Publication

Coming Home

An Evaluation of the New York City Housing Authority’s Family Reentry Pilot Program

Public housing authorities across the nation historically have barred many with criminal records from public housing residency. However, given evidence of the critical role stable housing and family reunification plays for people coming back to their communities from incarceration, some housing authorities are rethinking their practices. This repor...

Publication
  • John Bae, Margaret diZerega, Jacob Kang-Brown, Ryan Shanahan, Ram Subramanian
November 14, 2016
Publication