Housing, Health, and Community Reentry: Supportive Housing as an Intervention for People with Criminal Legal Histories and Homeless Experience
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SESSION INFO

Monday, February 13, 2023
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Session Type: Workshop
People exciting carceral systems have many barriers to successful reentry and barriers to housing is a major obstacle. This workshop begins with a summary of research on homelessness among reentry populations, followed by a presentation on the FUSE (Frequent Users Systems Engagement) supportive housing model for individuals with histories of cycling through criminal justice and homeless shelter systems. FUSE was first piloted in NYC in the mid-2000s, and positive results inspired similar interventions in multiple jurisdictions. Our current evaluation of long-term outcomes (10 years later) has demonstrated continued success regarding housing retention, reduced jail and shelter stays, and reduced crisis care service utilization. Next, we facilitate discussion of the current homeless and jail crisis in NYC and elsewhere, highlighting examples from across the county showing benefits of supportive housing as an intervention reducing collateral damage of incarceration for individuals and communities, as well as contributing to solving the homeless crisis.

SESSION PRESENTERS
Angela Aidala
Associate Research Scientist, Columbia University


Dr. Angela Aidala is a Research Scientist on the faculty in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. She was the Principal Investigator (PI) of the original New York City FUSE Evaluation and is the PI of the ongoing NYC FUSE Long-term Follow-up Evaluation. She has directed over 20 collaborative community health or services research projects with a focus on strategies to work effectively with harder-to-reach or “hidden” populations in urban settings.

Joyce Sacco
Director of Housing, Department of Behavioral Health & Intellectual Disability Services


Joyce Sacco is the Director of Housing at the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disability Services. She manages housing resources focused on preventing and ending homelessness and increasing housing opportunities for community inclusion for persons with significant behavioral health challenges. The Housing Unit matchs priority individuals to an appropriate living situation for persons with significant behavioral health challenges. While housing and mental health residential services are not an entitlement service, the unit assists such priority persons to be effectively and strategically matched to the living situation that will optimize recovery and ensure maximize community inclusion opportunities. The TIP Unit accomplishes its mission via centralized gatekeeping of admissions to and discharges from OMH-subsidized residences and a coordinated system to routinely review the status of clients residing at each site. The network of residential resources comprises approximately 1388 beds operated by 24 agencies at 131 sites. In addition, the Housing unit manages the Office of Addiction Services (OAS) Recovery House Initiative, which includes 25 OAS funded recovery houses, with a total of 470 beds, which offers individuals connected to treatment programs a safe, supportive living environment that is conducive to their recovery Her career in Philadelphia began as the Director of the Ridge Avenue Center, a 200-300 bed homeless shelter in Philadelphia, she also worked at Project HOME as the Director of Employment Initiatives. She did policy and advocacy work as the Deputy Director of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, a statewide non-profit advocating for more affordable housing in Pennsylvania. She had positions at the NYC Department of Corrections and Samaritan Village working with substance use and incarcerated individuals to advocate for programs as an alternative to incarceration. She also worked as a Legislative Assistant for a US Congressman in Washington DC. She has her Bachelors degree from Northeastern University and Master degree from UMASS Amherst.

Joy Walters
Forensic Supervisor, Department of Behavioral Health & Intellectual Disability Services


Joy V. Walters is a Forensic Supervisor with the Behavioral Health and Justice Division (BHJD) at Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbillities (DBHIDS). She has a BA in Psychology from Penn State and an MSW from Temple University. Her background spans 16 years of work with a focus on behavioral health and forensic populations. Previously she worked for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and various treatment providers before joining the BHJD team. Her current work in Philadelphia involves various court initiatives such as Pretrial Navigation and the BHJD Resource Hub to name a few.

Cassondra Warney
Senior Program Manager , Corporation for Supportive Housing


Cassondra Warney is a strategy & partnerships professional with nearly 10 years in nonprofit consulting. She is currently leading CSH Metro Team’s New Jersey housing portfolio focused on increasing affordable housing creation and reducing racial disparities in the state’s homeless system. She is the primary author of cost-savings analysis to help NYC save $1.4B annually spent on Rikers Jail by investing in $108M in supportive housing. Previously, Cassondra worked at the CSG Justice Center, serving as primary contact for statewide political projects that reduced the carceral system footprint by thousands fewer in jails, prison and community supervision by changing how systems operate and invest.