Safe and affordable housing is an essential component of successful reentry from incarceration. Barriers to stable, quality housing mean that formerly incarcerated individuals are less likely to find and maintain employment, maintain sobriety, complete parole supervision, and achieve the necessary stability to stay safely in the community. But despite this obvious need for housing, the five million formerly incarcerated people living in the U.S. are almost 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public.
Unfortunately for those with legal-system involvement, the use of background screenings by landlords during the tenant screening process creates an additional barrier to housing.
Some courts have evaluated evidence intended to demonstrate an empirical link between legal system involvement and the propensity for tenant dangerousness. Such courts have found that there is no such link. In fact, community safety actually improves when there is greater access to safe and stable housing.
This episode focuses on understanding how eradicating housing discrimination against the formerly incarcerated and how opening up access to safe and stable homes would improve community safety. Guests are Tabber Benedict, housing advocate at The Fortune Society; Flores A. Forbes, lecturer of law at Columbia Law School; and Merf Ehman, executive director of Columbia Legal Services in Seattle, Washington. 
