People who have recently been released from prison are much more likely to experience homelessness than the general population. This Evidence Note explores the research and findings on the relationship between leaving prison, and homelessness.

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Findings

Between October and December 2022, people leaving prison in England experienced homelessness at a rate 40 times higher than the general population

In England and Wales, only 13% of people released from custody were employed after six weeks.

Duty to Refer, Through the Gate services and Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) show poor or mixed results in terms of housing outcomes.

Critical Time Intervention and Re-Entry programmes can have a positive impact on outcomes such as engagement with mental health services and reduction in re-offendings.

Promising interventions include the Scottish Sustainable Housing on Release for Everyone (SHORE) protocol and other protocols to ensure that people exit prison with accommodation, landlord incentives to encourage private landlords to rent to people recently released from prison, and digital services for people leaving prison.

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Recommendations

Promote more evidence based, integrated approaches such as Critical Time Intervention and re-entry programmes and evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in housing outcomes.

Ensure better coordination between different government agencies and service providers with clear protocols, to ensure that people do not fall through the cracks.

Explore and evaluate programmes that aim to increase opportunities for settled accommodation upon release

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