Housing and criminality

The effect of housing placement on arrests among chronically homeless adults

Bibliographic Data

ID20408642
AuthorsJoshua T Ellsworth (0000-0002-5211-5972, Indiana University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume31
Issue2
Pages130-141
Publication date2022-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social Distress and the Homeless (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1053-0789 • E-ISSN: 1573-658X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10530789.2021.1897935
OpenAlexW3136212606
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited65

This article examines the relationship between criminality and housing among a population of formerly homeless adults by comparing arrest rates before and after placement in a supportive housing program. Jail entry records reflecting the period of chronic homelessness preceding housing placement were matched with post-intervention records for 87 adult men and women. In the studied population, a significant drop in arrest rates occurred after entry into the supportive housing environment. Findings support the assertion that supportive housing allows lifestyles to stabilize, which in turn leads to reductions in criminality. This study also reveals a transitionary period between the onset of the housing intervention and the observed decrease in arrests. Arrests do not instantaneously cease to accumulate. Instead, jail entries gradually decline over approximately twelve to eighteen months post housing placement. Explanations for the emergence of this transitionary period are discussed

Assertion · Demographic economics · Drop out · Economics · Environmental health · Political science · Population · Psychiatry · Sociology · Supportive housing · Vagrancy · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Demography · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology

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