Formerly Incarcerated People (FIP) are TEN times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public. Discriminatory housing policies prevent Justice-Involved Individuals (JIIs) from accessing private and public housing and are fueling Massachusetts’ homelessness crisis.
Our innovative programming is designed to break systemic barriers that destabilize minority communities and shrink the racial wealth gap.
The Hands On Defense (HOD) Program provides advocacy and support services for Justice-Involved Individuals (JIIs) experiencing discrimination and / or other barriers while seeking affordable housing. HOD uses a participatory defense model that disrupts the discriminatory application screening processes of Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to ensure fair housing decisions for JIIs. Our advocates and leaders support constituents who are being unfairly excluded from affordable housing to directly challenge the assumptions made by PHAs based on unjust policies.
HOD provides legal advocacy for JIIs facing housing denials and / or evictions based on Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) screenings.
The Stable Housing and Reintegration Program (SHARP) addresses the housing and stabilization needs of Formerly Incarcerated People (FIP) by providing not only housing subsidy vouchers, but also wrap-around care and empowerment services. SHARP aims to build pathways to homeownership by divesting from inequitable discriminatory systems and returning not just resources, but, control over these resources to the individuals most impacted by systemic racism. These resources, and the intensive participation of both the clients and the case managers in the program, assure graduates remain stable.
Brie’s House is in partnership with The City of Boston’s Office of Returning Citizens. Justice 4 Housing provides Reentry Housing for six to twelve months. Brie’s House addresses the housing needs of Formerly Incarcerated People (FIP) by providing safe and stable temporary housing for 12 individuals. The program is located at a beautifully updated triple-decker home in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Services include case management (individual stabilization plans), financial literacy, housing & employment placement, trauma-informed care, substance use support and permanent housing placement.
Our Vocational Reentry Housing program offers Rapid Rehousing along with Vocational Training, ensuring individuals reentering the community after incarceration have a safe place to reenter, while also receiving vocational training geared towards establishing a career in Commercial Driving.
Emergency housing resources for justice-involved individuals and the those reentering communities after incarceration.
Creating a first-of-its-kind down-payment assistance program; where the only people eligible have a criminal record!
First last & security downpayment assistance
Back rent assistance
$1,000 emergency assistance (has to relate to moving)
Having a criminals record is like wearing a scarlet letter.
Why are those justice-involved not a protected class?
Sometimes all a family needs is a little help to obtain stable housing
60% of men and women returning home after incarceration are homeless
Permanent housing solutions. Allowing individuals to become home owners instead of renters. We are moving families out of homelessness as well as preventing it.
This is a proposal to build 4 brand new homes for formerly incarcerated women and their children. This is what different looks like! Community taking care of community.
Justice For Housing, Inc. aka “Justice 4 Housing”, proposes four single family homeownership townhouse units. All affordable units sold to justice-involved, domestic violence involved or protective housing households with income of 70% AMI (1 units), 80% AMI (2 units) and 100% AMI ( 1 unit). There is one parking space per unit, all parking and associated access is direct from Walter Street and located on-stie.
We are educating our community, through outreach, workshops, public speaking and events.
We have integrated mentorship into our programs. Capacity building and building new leaders is essential to continue the movement of formerly incarcerated, directly affected community activist.
Our Peer Leaders learn to support new members. We have each one teach one model. Peer Leaders are chosen to speak at Universities, panels, action events, give legislative testimony and community outreach to educate the public about the criminalization of housing and the impact it has on our community. Educating the public on how homelessness has become a public health crisis that has impacted communities of color who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
Our pen-pal program aims to pair incarcerated and free-world people to create a supportive outlet for incarcerated members and an educational and transformative experience for non-incarcerated pen-pals. We recommend checking out our pen-pal webinar (it links to the transcript and slides).
We have more than 60 inside members waiting for a pen-pal. You can learn more about all of them by visiting our available pen-pals list. Some identifying information has been removed to protect our members, and we’re working with our members to build them all profiles and pledge to them that we will find all 140+ members a pen-pal.
We support our partner organization, Families For Justice As Healing, using a community organizing model for people facing, criminal charges, their families, and communities; to impact the outcome of cases and transform the landscape of power in the court system.
Families for Justice as Healing is led by incarcerated women, formerly incarcerated women, and women with incarcerated loved ones. Our mission is to end the incarceration of women and girls.
Families for Justice as Healing is unapologetically focused on women and girls, and we are abolitionists. We are proud members of The National Council for Incarcerated Women and Girls. We are closely connected with our sister organization, Sisters Unchained. We are a part of the National Participatory Defense Network.
Families for Justice as Healing leads advocacy to decarcerate women and girls in Massachusetts. We organize in the most incarcerated communities in the Commonwealth to transform the way we respond to harm and develop alternatives to police, courts, and incarceration.
We support the Mass Bail Fund. If you or your family is arrested, we will assist you with a MBF referral
he Massachusetts Bail Fund pays bail in Massachusetts so that low-income people can stay free while they work towards resolving their case, allowing individuals, families, and communities to stay productive, together, and stable. The Massachusetts Bail Fund is committed to the harm reduction of freeing individuals serving pre-trial sentences, and to abolishing pre-trial detention and supervision in the long-term.
We offer CORI sealing services and workshops w/ the Greater Boston Legal Servic