It took Javier Reyes 11 rental applications to find housing after his incarceration. Some applications went without a response; some people said they don’t lease to those with records. “Even in jail, I had a place to sleep,” Reyes said.
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Illinois lawmakers and advocates are trying to advance a pair of bills that could alleviate the housing burden on those in situations similar to Reyes.
HB3162 and
SB2403 , together known as “
Home for Good ,” would boost funding for housing dedicated to those reentering society after incarceration and those in community violence intervention programs. Each year, 20,000 people are
released from Illinois prisons . According to the Illinois Justice Project, 45% of those leaving are unemployed for at least three years. That’s in part due to what advocates call “permanent punishment,”
the more than 500 employment laws , policies, sanctions and job restrictions people with records face in Illinois. “Housing is obviously unaffordable for everyone, but it is especially the case for people who have records,” said Ahmadou Dramé, director of the Illinois Justice Project, a policy organization focusing on the criminal justice system. “Without a stable place to live, you can’t begin to triage all the other challenges that a person has to be navigating.” The bills would allocate $103 million for the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to create grants to increase affordable housing stock, subsidize housing and connect people with wraparound supports. The bills would also infuse cash into two existing programs from IHDA. The Reentry Rental Assistance Program, which provides rental subsidies to people with records, would receive $28.8 million. The Housing for Justice-Involved Individuals Program, which distributes grants for organizations to acquire, rehab and build transitional and permanent housing for people with records, would receive $48 million. The rental assistance program has provided help to about 60 people since 2023. The Housing for Justice program has created more than 500 beds since 2022. The Illinois Justice Project said the boost in funding could increase that impact: The rental assistance program could reach 1,200 justice-impacted people, and 160 units of transitional and permanent housing could be built. Reyes was a recipient of an IHDA grant for his organization
Challenge II Change . Through the grant, the organization was able to purchase a building to provide housing to eight justice-impacted people. The organization is purchasing a monastery that could provide housing for about 20 more people. “If housing is the first thing that you have,” Reyes said, “then everything else falls into place because you’re in a good place to be able to think.” The bills also allot more than $18 million to wraparound services, like assistance in transportation to work, behavioral health and workforce development, Dramé said. Wraparound services are “a critical element to reentry and deflecting people away from the system altogether that we need to make sure we do,” Dramé said. Providing these services and housing could decrease recidivism, advocates argue. “Home for Good will help us to reduce recidivism, which in turn, helps us to do exactly what everyone has been asking for: crime reduction,” said state Rep. Maurice West (D-Rockford), who is sponsoring one of the bills. With the spring legislative session ending this month, both bills have been assigned to committees and have yet to be read.
Note: This story has been updated to clarify the wording of two quotes. Thanks to our sponsors:
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