CORPORATION FOR SUPPORTIVE HOUSING



Kane County

Offender Reentry Housing Collaborative Report

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(Kane County Courthouse)

July 15th, 2009

Submitted To:

The Corporation for Supportive Housing

Submitted By:

Kane County Re-entry Task Force

Core Principles for Reentry Collaborative

In May of 2008, the governor’s office released a report entitled “Inside Out: A Plan to Reduce Recidivism and Improve Public Safety.” To support the housing recommendations in the Governor’s Reentry Report the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) partnered with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and the Illinois Division of Mental Health in releasing fourteen (14) planning grants within ten (10) target areas to assist communities in assessing the need for reentry housing and supportive services in their area.

• Planning for services prior to release from an institution is essential for communities and that building capacity of the community is necessary to plan for the safe return of our former community members.

• Multiple strategies and partnerships need to be deployed as no one strategy can help all individuals and families who are homeless.

• As a result of this planning process, all area agencies from multiple systems will work together as partners to ensure successful, long-term outcomes for individuals returning from correctional facilities. This working together includes planning, identification of current services and housing, strengths and weakness, and the development of future goals for growth and development of housing, services, and integration. Some of the systems included and reviewed in our partnership will need to include: mental health, substance abuse, county corrections, state corrections, housing, homeless emergency systems, and health care.

• Services need to be designed and delivered in a manner that is accessible to people who are disadvantaged or marginalized.

• We believe that all individuals and families should have permanent, safe, affordable housing with necessary supportive service

• Poor integration of systems or lack of resources often results in people becoming homeless or returning to Correctional facilities unnecessarily.

• Individuals may become homeless as a result of their disability and ex-offender status

• Any collaborative planning needs to include the expertise representation by people who are homeless or impacted by law enforcement and the lack of community services to ensure that any new services or housing meets the needs of the intended targeted services.

• Active Outreach of people who are labeled “difficult to reach” needs to be deployed.

• There needs to be a commitment to the creation of permanent supportive housing with financial resources allocated with this in mind. Quick fixes and reactions to crisis have not been sufficient or effective in solving long term problems. Collaboration will allow communities to tap into resources at the federal, state, and local levels to reinvest money into the prevention of future expenditures for incarceration and unnecessary expensive emergency services paid for at the local level. Our community needs to explore these options

Kane County

Offender Reentry Housing Collaborative Report

Table of Contents

I. Acknowledgements and Partners

II. Kane County Collaboration Efforts

III. Kane County Background Information

IV. Comparisons

a. Data Table

b. SWOT Analysis

V. Statement of Needs

VI. Challenges and Problems Identified by Ex-Offender Survey

VII. Challenges and Problems Identified by Working Groups

VIII. Recommendations from Working Groups

IX. Program Plan

a. Job Description

b. Budget

X. Conclusion

XI. Source Data

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the contributions to this project by the following participants in local planning groups.

Kandie Simons, Illinois Department of Corrections Placement Resource Unit

Supervisor Hagen, Illinois Department of Corrections

Mark Vankerkhoff, Kane County Development

Jennifer Root, TASC

Willie Jackson, Hesed House

Jim Scarpace, Gateway Foundation Inc

Jeff Gilbert, Hope for Tomorrow

Matt Brown, Kevin Foss, CSH

Pam Miller, Richard Martin, Linda Martin; RITAS Ministry

II. Kane County Task Force Efforts

As part of the information gathering process, the Kane County CSH Task Force was formed and has been meeting periodically over the previous months. However, efforts to support the ex-offender population of Illinois have been present for many years in Kane County. According to the 2009 U.S Mayor’s Conference press release on The Status of Ex-Offender Reentry Efforts in Cities, an initiative titled Restoring Inmates to America’s Society – better known as RITAS Ministry was established in Aurora in 1997 with the sole mission of assisting individuals involved in the justice system to become productive citizens by providing a total support system of transitional jobs, transitional housing, counseling, and other needed services.

RITAS Ministry, serving as a portion of the CSH Task Force, has been as a leader of prison ministry re-entry services and education in Aurora and the State of Illinois over the years, developing strong collaborating relationships with other social service agencies, law enforcement, and government agencies in the City, County, and State; a particularly strong relationship exists with the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In addition to the CSH Task Force, a consumer advisory survey was completed by ex-felons who have been, or are currently on parole in Kane County. Finally, our CSH Task Force met to discuss our needs assessment, a scattered housing project, and to seek support for our efforts.

III. Kane County Background Information

(information taken from , in addition to personal information)

Kane County is located in Northeastern Illinois, which covers an area of approximately 520 square miles. Population size is close too 500,000 being the fifth most populated county in the state. Kane County is the home to Illinois second largest city, Aurora. The unemployment rate in Kane County has reached 11% in the current economy; double that of 2007’s rate which stood constant at about 5%.

Kane County contains three primary market areas for office and industrial space. They are defined as: northern Kane County, Tri-Cities, and southern Kane County. Firms are attracted to Kane County from Cook County northwest suburbs as well as from locations within DuPage County. Advantages for doing business in Kane County include: A relatively larger supply of lower priced land and lower costs of doing business than DuPage County and Cook County; and relatively good accessibility and a central geographic location from which to serve regional, national, and international markets.

From 1993 to about 2001, Kane County experienced a relatively high rate of employment growth. Fast growing sectors included services, construction, and wholesale trade. The largest source of jobs, service industries, grew from 30% to 33% of Kane County's employment base. Manufacturing (27% of total employment) and retail trade (20% of total employment) were the other largest; however, they were slower growing sources of employment.

Traditionally, Kane County has been home to several manufacturing companies but with the current recession many of these companies have closed or moved from the area. From 1996 to 2007, the percentage of manufacturing jobs decreased over 10%. These manufacturing companies were the primary source of employment for many of the returning parolees.

IV. Kane County Comparison

Kane County is the fifth in the number of parolees being released. Yearly, approximately 742 return to Kane County; significantly nearly 70% of the parolees who return to Kane County return to Aurora and Elgin. Dupage County, which has parts of Aurora, is the county mostly likely to send felony offenders to the Illinois Department of Corrections. Kane County also has a large number of probationers.

|Kane County Juvenile and Adult Population by Zip Code - 3/08 |

|ZIP Code |

| |

|Reentry Program Budget Estimates |

|Personnel (see detail) | | | 51,810 |

| | | | |

|Benefits | | | |

|22% of wages | | | 11,398 |

| | | | |

|Travel | | | |

|Transport vehicle utilization | | | 5,000 |

|Mileage (7,000 mi *$.48 per mile) | | | 3,360 |

| | | | 8,360 |

|Specific Assistance-Rent Vouchers | | | |

|Rent Vouchers-20 FMR w/ utility allow @ $681 | | | 163,440 |

|Rent Vouchers-10 partial @$275 per mo | | | 33,000 |

| | | | 196,440 |

|Equipment | | | |

|Office Furniture | | | 1,000 |

|2 Laptop computers for Case Managers | | | 1,800 |

| | | | 2,800 |

|Supplies | | | |

|Recreation/program/office costs | | | 500 |

| | | | |

|Training/Conferences | | | 5,000 |

| | | | |

|Other | | | |

|Occupancy Costs | | | 2,775 |

|Professional Liability | | | 1,200 |

|Cellphone for Case Managers | | | 960 |

| | | | 4,935 |

| | | | |

|Admin | | | 32,343 |

| | | | |

|Total expenses | | | 313,586 |

| | | | |

|Wage detail | | | |

| | # months | | |

|Position | per year |FTEs | Wages |

| | | | |

|Clinician I | 12 |1.000 | 22,880 |

|Clinician I | 12 |1.000 | 22,880 |

|Director | 12 |0.050 | 3,050 |

|Program Support | 12 |0.150 | 3,000 |

| | | | |

| Total | |2.200 | 51,810 |

APPENDIX B:

Source Data:

Consumer Advisory Group

The following are bullet points summarizing the concerns of the consumer advisory group made up of offenders.

❖ Inmates are concerned over bias/prejudice with some government or private agencies that work with parolees in the community. Some promise but don’t deliver promised services.

❖ Convictions prevent felons from getting an apartment in section 8 housing complexes. And other local housing due to city ordinances

❖ There is significant concern over finding housing for inmates convicted of sex crimes. Sex crimes need to be looked at separately instead of all in one group.

❖ Lack of financial resources upon release from prison makes it difficult to find housing due to the inmate’s inability to pay the deposit and the first and last months rent.

❖ One of the inmates reported that the medicals services needs to be addressed especially for the male offenders.

❖ The transition period two months before, and two months after, an offender’s release on parole are vital to dealing with issues such as homelessness. If a formal program does develop, the inmates believe the prisons, parole, and probation departments should be notified so this important issue can be addressed as part of their parole release plan.

❖ Case managers at the institutions need to be more involved with inmates prior to their release on parole.

❖ Low credit scores of the inmate might prevent the parolee from getting an apartment even if they have the financial resources.

❖ Inmates need more help with managing their personal

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