Ex-prisoners and accommodation: what bearing do different forms of housing have on social reintegration for ex-prisoners? (See project 70068)

Summary

Only a minority of people leaving New South Wales prisons have support which enables them to improve their welfare after their release. Drug use, unsatisfactory housing arrangements, and huge difficulties negotiating complex bureaucratic procedures for public housing are common issues cited by the participants in the study.

Project Number: 70176
Research Theme: Homelessness, Social_Wellbeing
Project Leader: Baldry, Eileen
Funding Year: 2002
Research Centre: UNSW-UWS

Description

There had been no longitudinal study in Australia of a sufficient sample size to provide reliable, valid data on ex-prisoners and housing. What was evident in reports from prison welfare officers and community groups who work with prisoners, is that ex-prisoners are at extreme risk of homelessness and / or failed tenancies. This research was study of a year and a half's duration in which a sample of approximately 140-150 male and female prisoners from Victoria and New South Wales was interviewed before leaving prison regarding their planned housing situation and a number of other social factors. This sample included the handful of ex-prisoners entering supported housing schemes for ex-prisoners in NSW and Victoria. The sample was a consecutive random one to ensure proportionally appropriate numbers of Indigenous and women, long and short-term prisoners. This group was then followed up at three and six month intervals. The data gathered provided information on the ex-prisoners' type of housing, length of time in each accommodation, marriage status, relationship with family, addictions, any therapeutic programmes, employment status, previous convictions, parole status and recidivism. Using multivariate analyses the importance of type of accommodation in association with the other factors was ascertained. The efficacy of housing could not be evaluated other than in the context of social and personal variables with which it interacts in shaping a released prisoner's social re-establishment. Evaluation and comparison of the different housing forms (supported, private, boarding, rented, with or without family / friends etc) in relation to a variety of social supports such as addiction programmes, employment support and training, family attachment was made. Also internal comparisons between the ""at risk"" and marginal housing groups within the sample were made. Conclusions regarding programme integration and sustainable accommodation, and comparison between the various supported and non-supported accommodations for ex-prisoners were arrived at.

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