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By partnering with Housing Connector, we are helping our team members establish stability and independence.

At Pallet, our people are our purpose. Giving people a fair chance at stable employment and creating a supportive environment that fosters wellness and growth for all our team members is a crucial part of our mission. 

A key part of this is ensuring that everyone on our team has all the tools and resources they need to succeed. In our work building shelter communities for displaced populations across North America, we know firsthand how having a safe, stable place to live is not only a basic human right—it is also the foundation for maintaining health, helping those with substance use disorder on their recovery journeys, and healing trauma

That’s why we are proud to have become a Community Partner with Housing Connector, an organization that helps find housing for marginalized individuals and families. In our first year of the partnership, Housing Connector has been instrumental in finding housing for 4 Pallet team members by removing barriers and locating available properties. 

Increasing Housing Attainability

Beyond the fact that there is an extreme shortage of affordable housing units nationwide, the scarce remaining options are often unattainable for applicants that have histories of incarceration, substance use, or bad credit. These widespread discriminatory practices can prevent vulnerable people from finding permanent housing, even if the applicant has proven progress in employment stability and/or sobriety. 

Through their Zillow-powered platform, Housing Connector displays a list of eligible units in the area available through their Property Partners. From there, applicants are provided a letter of support that can be submitted to the property manager. Once approved, residents have access to an ecosystem of support including legal resources, conflict resolution, financial assistance, and two years of personal case management to establish housing stability. 

Pallet Peer Support

As we hire new members onto our team to build their futures, we conduct screenings to assess our employees’ satisfaction with their housing status among various other wellness evaluations. This process helped establish our partnership with Housing Connector. 

Sarah, our Customer Service Lead, serves as an essential onsite consultant for Pallet team members who want to access supportive services. When she moved into her current apartment, she personally used Housing Connector for an added layer of financial security and peace of mind.  

This positive experience motivated her to pursue Housing Connector as a Pallet resource that employees could access if they were struggling to secure or maintain housing. She says this support can be crucial for people who are struggling to get approved for traditional housing based on their background or experience. 

“Typically they vouch for our people, meaning those people who have criminal backgrounds, bad credit, evictions, debt, and who normally can't get approved,” she says. “Without that letter of support, most of them probably wouldn’t even be able to get into an apartment. It’s like a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket.” 

She also says the benefits that come with signing up for Housing Connector are advantageous for vulnerable people who aren’t used to living on their own and are taking on a new, unfamiliar responsibility. 

“[Housing Connector] offers mediation services between you and the landlord, or if you're getting treated unfairly, they can reach out on your behalf,” she says. “If you're struggling to pay your rent, you can have them help you to reach out and communicate. And then after you're there for three months, say there's an emergency and your car breaks down and you have to spend all your money on that—they offer up to three months of emergency rental funds to help you, because the goal is to stablish some stability.” 

We are proud of our team members who have accessed the services provided by Housing Connector, and couldn’t be happier to see them get their own set of keys and build a stable future for themselves.  

Overcoming years of substance use and incarceration, Jeff is using his time at Pallet to forge a path to self-reliance and strong family relationships.

Family is everything to Jeff. Through incarceration, addiction, and every dark moment he’s faced, his relationships are what kept him grounded and moving forward. Now nearly three years clean and working toward running his own business full-time, he says it’s made all the difference. 

“For me to be sitting here right now is nothing short of a miracle,” he explains. “My family and my higher power are what made that possible.” 

Jeff spent his childhood living with his father and sister in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley just north of Anchorage. He was taught from an early age the virtue of earning your keep by hauling and packing wood to fuel their barrel stove among various other household tasks. 

“Growing up was awesome,” he recalls. “Hard work, you know, which is what’s translated into who I am today. So I grew up always having lots of chores and got a good work ethic ingrained from day one.” 

In school, Jeff played football and was on the boxing team. But he had plenty going on outside of class: he started drinking and smoking cannabis around age 13; he got into motorcycles, learning to ride and maintain his first bike; he routinely hitched rides down to Anchorage with his best friend to work odd jobs at the truck and trailer dealership where his friend’s dad worked as a mechanic. 

“We would go and we'd work around the shop there or his buddy would pay us to come work,” he recollects. “We’d be sandblasting painting equipment, doing different lightweight mechanics stuff, heavy equipment, working on bikes and cars or trucks. Whatever work we could do.” 

Up until high school, Jeff says life was simple. 

“That was pretty much my childhood: work, go to school, hunt, fish and drink.” 

In 11th grade, things started to change for Jeff. He began failing some of his classes, which meant he was barred from playing football in his senior year. Not long after, he got into an altercation with one of his teachers and was promptly expelled from school. 

“I started doing cocaine around the time I started driving and then things kind of spiraled a little bit out around that,” he says. “It's no longer just working or whatever—then all the other bull**** comes in.” 

For the next year Jeff and his friends lived on a remote property in the woods, using drugs and growing marijuana. One day, his dad and uncle showed up to put an end to it: they told Jeff he’d be moving down to Oregon to live with his uncle and get his act together. 

Once in Klamath Falls, one of the main house rules was prohibiting Jeff from talking to or seeing his mother, fearing that her substance use would be a bad influence. But when his uncle was gone working in the oil fields of Alaska, Jeff took the chance to call his mom and go over to her house. 

The night that Jeff reunited with his mom was also the night he met his future wife and fell into the world of methamphetamines. The next period of his life was defined by this relationship and the circumstances surrounding their lifestyle of selling and using drugs. 

The sister of one of Jeff’s mom’s friends, they hit it off immediately. Things moved fast after that: Jeff began living with her and her young son a few months later and they became their own family unit. But not even a full year after they met, Jeff got into legal trouble and her son was taken by child protective services as a result. 

This prompted his first stint at recovery. Both of them entered programs and got clean, allowing them to take back custody of her son. What followed was several years of calm and stability: they got married, moved in together, and had a daughter of their own. One year on Christmas, Jeff met up with his friend, who offered him drugs.  

“I don’t know why I did it, but I did it,” he says. “I just quickly went downhill. And within nine months I was in jail for the first long sentence, and it was five years.” 

This chance encounter and Jeff’s relapse set off a chain of events entailing multiple incarcerations and participation in different recovery programs. While approaching the release date of his last sentence, a couple promising opportunities arose for Jeff, and he was determined to make a path out of the life he’d grown to know. 

Upon being released in Seattle he was able to move up to Everett and rent a room from his sister and brother-in-law, who quickly connected Jeff to his best friend Josh. Josh told Jeff about Pallet, and the company’s focus on providing fair chances to people who have experienced incarceration and substance use disorder. Jeff had a feeling this was the direction he needed and applied right away. 

“I liked the idea of how they were willing to give people opportunity, a chance, and the idea of getting further in my education was something I wanted and needed,” he says. “And to get that in addition to surrounding yourself with like-minded people that are facing the same struggles—I thought that was pretty amazing. So I just set my mind on waiting and prayed about it, and here I am.” 

Since starting at Pallet, Jeff’s focus and determination have led to great progress in his future career and personal life. This December will mark three years clean. He saved up enough to buy a new truck, which he uses for independent contracting jobs after his shifts on the manufacturing floor. He’s joined the deployment team, seeing firsthand the positive impact Pallet’s shelter communities have for people who have been displaced. He's reconnected with his daughter, and is currently planning on a trip down to Oregon to see her and meet his grandchild for the first time. 

For now, Jeff is dead set on working hard and planning for the future. He says the steadiness of his life and the support and encouragement from his coworkers are making it easier. 

“Everybody here is willing to make themselves vulnerable to help you succeed,” he says. “There's no other place in the world where you’ve got coworkers like that.” 

After completing Pallet’s Career Launch PAD, Jeff is determined to leverage the technical skills he’s learned and the certifications he’s obtained to operate his own business and maintain his relationships with his family. For good reason, he’s betting on himself. 

“My vision is that when we graduate that class, I can move on to just work in my own company completely and move forward,” he says. “Because when you work for yourself, you get what you're worth.” 

Meet the other three featured participants in Pallet’s Career Launch PAD and read their stories. 

After experiencing heartbreaking loss and facing the task of rebuilding her life, Christa has her eyes set on giving back and creating a brighter future for her daughter.

Christa is no stranger to dedication and discipline. Starting at age three, she played soccer in select club leagues with dreams of someday playing at a professional level. 

“It’s literally all I did: practice five days a week and then tournaments on the weekends,” she remembers. “So that was my passion.” 

Between soccer training and attending a private Christian school, Christa’s childhood was regimented and predictable (she defines it as “sheltered”). This changed when she turned 15 and left her mother’s house to move to Mill Creek. In high school she became fast friends with a group that regularly drank and smoked cannabis. And after being accepted into this crowd, her life changed drastically. 

“I had my first sip of alcohol when I was 15 and within three months I was addicted to opiates,” she says. “And that went on my whole life.” 

During this period, Christa was swept up in a cycle of using and selling substances.  

“I was addicted to that lifestyle, selling drugs and just living a really chaotic life.” 

When she was 17, she met her partner. She got her own apartment a year later. After several years together entrenched in the only lifestyle they knew, they had a daughter. 

Not long after becoming a mother, Christa was turned in on substance distribution charges and served six years in prison. Although the experience changed her, it wasn’t until early 2024 when her life took a sudden and unexpected turn. 

Christa was in jail for two weeks on account of a DOC violation when a sergeant delivered the news that her partner had been involved in a motorcycle accident and had passed away. The remainder of her sentence gave her the opportunity to detox, and more importantly, wrap her head around the devastation of losing her partner. 

“It gave me 10 days to process it and think about our daughter who's already grown up in that lifestyle,” she explains. “And just thinking about what she's going through and how selfish that would be for me to get out and do the same thing. And so I got released and I never got high again.” 

Around this time an acquaintance had applied to Pallet to work on the production floor. Unsure of her next steps, Christa followed suit and submitted her own application. Within days of her interview, she started her new job. 

Despite being apprehensive of starting a completely unfamiliar lifestyle and career, Christa dove in headfirst and gave it her all. 

“I was so unsure of what I wanted to do and what my future looked like or even how to live a normal life,” she says. “And so I just woke up every day and came here, and every week I felt stronger.” 

Between the structure of participating in Pallet’s Career Launch PAD and the accepting, supportive environment of working alongside others with similar lived experience, she knew she had found the right fit. 

“Being previously incarcerated and having a record, you're judged everywhere you go,” she explains. “A lot of doors close when you have a record, and coming here and having people not only be accepting of that in second chances, but to support recovery in addition is kind of unheard of in the workplace. And I mean, that's probably one of the biggest reasons I ended up staying. So this place definitely has saved my life.” 

In a short time, Christa’s tenacity and work ethic has already placed her on a fast track for growth. She jumped on the opportunity to join Pallet’s Safety Committee. She’s taking the skills she’s already learned in the pre-apprenticeship program—like power tool operation, safety protocols, and earning her OSHA certificate—to pursue a career as an electrician upon graduation. She’s particularly proud to be part of the deployment team, traveling to different sites across North America and helping build shelters for people displaced by natural disasters and those experiencing homelessness. 

“Being able to give back has been huge for me,” she says. “Because all I've ever done is just tear up my community, and so to be able to go out there and help people get off the streets and be a part of something bigger than me is huge.” 

Christa’s hard work, commitment to sobriety, and vision for the future have already improved her relationship with her daughter. She says it feels amazing to be able to be more present and to focus on being a good mom. And although they’re both still processing grief, Christa is trying her best to keep things in perspective. 

“I miss him every day,” she says. “Our lives will never be the same. But everything happens for a reason, and I’m trying to think of it like that instead of being depressed. It’s given our daughter a chance.” 

Given how far she’s already come, we couldn’t be more proud to have Christa on our team—and we can’t wait to see where she goes next.

Christa's Progress Update: January 2025

Reflecting on enrolling in Pallet’s Career Launch PAD, Christa recalls her driving force to make progress and improve her life.

“I was excited about it because I want to take every possible opportunity that I can get that will move me forward,” she says. “I’ve been excited about it the whole time, I’m just trying to always give it 100 percent.”

Now four months in, she hasn’t lost an ounce of motivation to build her future with her newfound skills.

“So far, it's really helped build my confidence and give me an idea of what I actually want to do with my life because I wasn't really sure,” she says. “For me, having a legal job is the first step. And then going to school has given me some direction and made me feel more positive about what I’m doing with my life.”

Since the beginning of the program, Christa and her classmates have earned certifications for OSHA safety, CPR, operating a boom lift, telehandler, and scissor lift, and even learned how to properly operate a jackhammer.

“Driving the scissor lift and boom lift was really big for me, because I had never even been on either,” she says.

Christa still has her sights set on becoming an electrician after graduating. She says the comprehensive structure of the courses at CITC has been helpful in visualizing outcomes and understanding how she’ll apply this knowledge in her career.

“We go through the textbook, but every week we learn something new so we get a better idea of everything that’s offered,” she explains. “One of the instructors handed out a test that you would take to get your electrician license. So to take that and then see exactly what you need to learn is pretty cool, because it’s a hard test, and I feel like I have something to work toward now.”

Despite being anchored by her dedication and clear vision for the future, Christa has still encountered challenges along the way as she began her recovery journey, a new job, and a pre-apprenticeship program all at the same time. She says it’s been difficult adjusting to new financial burdens, working as hard as she can and still feeling behind on her obligations. Even so, she persevered and told herself quitting wasn’t an option.

“I know I can get through it, I would never give up—that’s definitely not the problem, but I ran into some obstacles for sure,” she says. “Staying focused on my end goal and just making sure I’m a good example to my daughter keeps me going through any obstacles.”

The past few months have had a substantial impact on Christa’s life and outlook. The only thing that’s remained constant is her determination and tenacity to keep going.

“It’s like day and night the way my life has changed,” she says. “Everything about my life is completely different. I’m just getting to know myself because this is the first time I’ve been sober in about 20 years. So I’m just figuring out what my hobbies are, and I’m earning more trust with my family so I can have my daughter back full time. Having this job and being in school allows me to be able to do that.”

Meet the other three featured participants in Pallet’s Career Launch PAD and read their stories. 

The combination of fair chance hiring and sponsorship in a pre-apprenticeship training program equips our team members to grow, advance their careers, and become the skilled workforce of the future.

From the very beginning of Pallet, we have placed our team members at the core of our mission to give people a fair chance at employment. We strongly believe that people are defined by their potential, not their past.  

The majority of our staff have lived experience of homelessness, incarceration, recovery from substance use disorder, or involvement in the criminal legal system. Their insight is crucial in continually refining our products to best meet the needs of communities who have experienced the trauma of displacement in times of crisis.  

With our Purpose-Led Workforce Model, we are taking the next step in helping our team grow and advance their careers. 

What is Pallet’s Purpose-Led Workforce Model?

Our model is built on two major pillars: fair chance hiring and Pallet’s Career Launch PAD (Program for Apprenticeship Development). 

While some organizations are classified as second chance employers, we define our hiring practices as fair chance—as many people aren’t given a first chance to begin with. We offer the opportunity for people to work and grow at Pallet HQ as manufacturing specialists, regardless of criminal record, incarceration, or former job experience. This part of our model is crucial: even though it’s been confirmed that the vast majority of formerly incarcerated people want to work, roughly 60% of those released from prison remain unemployed, struggling to find workplaces that ensure job security and upward mobility. 

The second key piece of our model is Pallet’s Career Launch PAD. This program entails enrollment in an offsite 9-month pre-apprenticeship training course focusing on developing essential skills needed for a career in the trades, while simultaneously building on-the-job experience manufacturing shelters in our production facility. This structure means employees are guaranteed full-time pay for attending classes one day per week and working in Pallet’s production facility the other four. Upon graduating from the program, our team will be equipped to pursue apprenticeships in a variety of skilled trades disciplines. 

Pallet’s Career Launch PAD would not be possible without our collaboration with the Construction Industry Training Council of Washington (CITC) and grants provided by Workforce Snohomish. We are proud and grateful to work alongside these organizations who are equally invested in creating the next wave of skilled trades workers. 

Why is This So Important?

By creating this program with growth in mind, we are offering a completely unique opportunity for our staff: steady, fair compensation alongside tactical educational courses that will guide their future. Upon graduation from the pre-apprenticeship program, our team members will move beyond Pallet to build their careers, making space for a new incoming class to participate. 

In many ways, our Purpose-Led Workforce Model mirrors our mission to provide emergency shelter for those who have experienced the trauma of displacement. Similar to how our shelters provide Pallet village residents the time and space needed to transition to permanent housing, this program offers our employees stability and a supportive environment so they can start their career journey.  

“Over the past few years, we have worked hard to develop programs and create support tailored to the unique needs of our employees,” says Tracy Matthews, Pallet’s VP of Human Resources. “This new model builds upon the old one by continuing to stabilize and support our team members with lived experience, while adding the educational component of Pallet’s Career Launch PAD. This program offers a pathway to other opportunities, enabling us to launch 25+ people per year into apprenticeship programs and extend employment opportunities to more impacted and marginalized individuals.”

To get a more in-depth look at Pallet’s Career Launch PAD, follow the progress of four of the program’s participants: Gregory, Christa, Jeff, and Tonya.

You can learn about each team member’s background, experience, and how they will use their training to launch their careers and build a brighter future.

Housing stability is at the core of substance use recovery. The proven success of supportive housing models illustrates the urgent need to expand such programs.

Housing insecurity and substance use disorder are two of the most prevalent public health issues facing our country: people experiencing homelessness (PEH) or housing instability and individuals living with substance use disorders (SUDs) are equally at risk of poor health outcomes. And while the link between the two may be evident to many, recognizing that housing is healthcare—and how it has a crucial impact on people’s recovery journeys—is still overshadowed by insurmountable barriers to stable housing.  

The present shortage of attainable housing (only 34 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 cost-burdened renters across the country) becomes even more narrow for people with histories of addiction. Beyond prohibitively long waiting lists and a stark lack of supply, federal policies allow housing agencies and landlords to prevent people with past histories of drug use from receiving housing assistance. These realities lead to a problem that is cyclical in nature: once an individual experiences homelessness due to a substance-related incident, they encounter higher difficulty obtaining housing, and, in turn, this lack of secure housing acts as a barrier to recovery and achieving sobriety. 

Expanding existing affordable and supportive models alongside reforming policies that prevent people with addiction history from attaining housing is critical to help people in active recovery. These initiatives, coupled with the fundamental understanding that every person’s recovery journey is unique and requires different resources, can effectively build a system that supports those living with SUD and creates equitable housing opportunities for everyone.  

The Importance of Recovery Housing Models

The most common housing models that are specifically created to facilitate recovery from SUD are known as transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and sober living or recovery housing.  

While each program structure varies regarding employment or rent contribution requirements, all are focused on providing an environment that prioritizes services, peer support, and accountability. Looking at the big picture, these models are designed to prolong sobriety and provide pathways to permanent housing stability and employment for participants. 

In addition to stable housing being one of the four major dimensions of recovery, ample research shows the efficacy of these programs. Positive outcomes among participants include decreased substance use, reduced likelihood of return to use, lower rates of incarceration, higher income, improved employment, and healthier family relationships. 

Despite the proven effectiveness of these models, various factors contribute to a shortage of recovery housing programs for people who need them most. 

The Need for Expansion

The dearth of recovery and sober living houses with available space threatens the safety and well-being of impacted individuals and their communities. With sky high property and construction prices, as well as insufficient funding and a lack of developable land, building more units that can accommodate these vulnerable groups has become unattainable.  

Travis Gannon, founder of sober living organization Hand Up Housing in Snohomish County, attests to this. “It’s tighter than it’s ever been for us,” he says. “I mean, we don’t have openings. We fill everything that we have and we’re turning away 30 to 50 people a week at this point.” 

Pallet team member Gabby Bullock has found life-changing support and growth through living at one of the organization’s recovery houses. After six months of participating in the program and being able to reunite with her children, she said: “It just really proves that what I’m doing is the right thing,” she said. “I know that if I’m doing the right thing that more miracles will happen.” 

Weld, a Seattle-based nonprofit that provides transitional housing, employment opportunities, and community reconnection for its members, has seen similar successes unfold first-hand. Since launching, the organization has served more than 1,000 system-impacted individuals reenter their community from incarceration, homelessness, and addiction. By creatively utilizing vacant or underutilized properties as transitional housing units and working closely with diversion programs such as King County Drug Diversion Court, Weld offers members housing stability, recovery support, and the chance to build a brighter future for themselves. 

The Role of Lived Experience in Peer Support

For Weld Housing Director Jody Bardacke, the organization’s success ultimately comes down to two principles: “attention and effort.” 

Bardacke understands that recovery and reentry will look different for each member. People have different backgrounds, experiences, and support needs. Lengths of stay in the program will differ. 

“We provide opportunities,” he says. “The amount of time you spend with us, it’s completely immaterial as long as you get what you need. The only part that matters is that you get where you need to go.” 

This perspective is informed by Bardacke’s own recovery journey. To him, transitional housing played a pivotal part in his progress: “The day that I got into transitional housing is the same day that I was about to be homeless. If I hadn’t gotten the call that afternoon that I had a bed, I was gonna hit the streets.” 

Although there are a variety of reasons people begin using substances, Bardacke points out that SUD among people experiencing homelessness often begins out of necessity, either as a way to stay awake or to numb the discomfort of living unsheltered. Even though the myth that addiction is the most common direct cause of homelessness has been proven false through research, the close relationship between the two contributes to a lasting stigma. 

“A lot of times it’s a coping mechanism: you start using because you’re in a tent,” he says. “It’s freezing, and you’re unsafe and you’re stressed out. And when that’s your entire existence, even five minutes of relief is a lot.” 

Bardacke realizes the tailored approach he takes to communicate to each Weld member is formed by his own lived experience with SUD and recovery. 

“I'm not sitting down with someone talking about, theoretically, what recovery can do for your life,” he says. “I can tell you exactly what recovery can do. I can tell you exactly what transitional housing did for my life. I can tell you about all the different ways that I stumbled along the way and what I did to get through that.” 

Creating a Path to Brighter Futures

These success stories illustrate the urgent need to expand attainable, stable housing for people with SUD. Recovery becomes achievable with housing, peer support, and connection to essential services. If a sharper focus is placed on reforming policy, practices, and funding streams and embracing innovative and trauma-informed housing models, a pathway to sustainable recovery will open for these vulnerable groups and their communities.  

Treating homelessness as a crime is costly, ineffective, and does nothing to solve the root causes of this crisis. Now, more than ever, is the time to invest in real solutions.

Communities have long understood the implications of criminalizing homelessness. Even so, recent state- and federal-level policies—which permit incarceration as a response to people living outdoors in public spaces—ignore the fact that this approach is not a solution. Rather, it perpetuates cycles of poverty, addiction, incarceration, and, ultimately, homelessness.

Reenforcing this broken system is as costly as it is ineffective. Not only will parks, recreation trails, and city streets continue to be misused, taxpayer costs will spike due to increased encampment sweeps and putting unhoused individuals in jail and prison.

It’s long overdue to focus efforts and funding on real solutions: provision of stable shelter, housing, and supportive services that enable vulnerable populations to contribute to the economy and community at large.

Perpetuating Ineffective and Unjust Systems

Current policies seeking to justify the criminalization of homelessness willfully ignore the failure of past efforts. Punitive measures including incarceration, encampment sweeps, and implementing cruel initiatives like hostile architecture simply propagate a broken system that pushes unhoused individuals further from stable housing and employment.

A significant part of this inefficacy is the fact that incarceration is, in many cases, a direct path to becoming unhoused. This “revolving door” effect has long been observed. Findings indicate that while a person who has been incarcerated a single time is nearly seven times more likely to experience homelessness compared to the general public, if that same person is jailed a second time, the rate spikes to 13 times higher. This means that if people are incarcerated on the grounds of living unsheltered multiple times, they are virtually guaranteed to return to the streets upon exiting the prison system.

Encampment sweeps, or the municipal practice of clearing public spaces of tents and other temporary or improvised structures, share the same level of ineffectiveness. When people living in these unsanctioned camps are forcibly moved, they often will relocate to another site. This of course accomplishes nothing but moving unsheltered groups from one location to another. A recent example in Washington D.C. illustrates this reality: after clearing out roughly 74 people living in McPherson Square, an estimated two-thirds of the group were still believed to be sleeping on the street.

It is fair that community members want to preserve their parks and recreation areas, especially considering they are not designed as living spaces and often lack adequate hygiene facilities, running water, and waste disposal services for unsheltered communities. However, when no alternative options are offered in conjunction with sweeps, the same displaced populations are likely to return to previous encampment sites.

As evidenced, the only true actionable solutions are building more affordable housing to mitigate the shortage of over 7 million rental units and creating broader, more equitable service programming for vulnerable and low-income populations. Offering transitional models such as emergency interim shelter with integrated service provision is another underutilized approach that creates pathways to more permanent housing. Incarceration, sweeps, and all other punitive approaches unequivocally fail to address these root causes or any of the conditions that exacerbate chronic homelessness such as substance use disorder, institutional racism, and generational poverty.

Futile Allocation of Public Funds

In addition to being ineffective and inhumane, incarceration (and the municipal, administrative, and reverberating economic costs associated with it) is far more expensive than simply building more housing. Many cities across the U.S. have reported dramatic cost savings to taxpayers when a focus was placed on providing more housing rather than cycling unhoused populations through jails, prisons, and the healthcare system.

One report released by the NYC Comptroller’s Office that shows the daily costs per-person of different approaches displays the cost-effectiveness of housing provision: compared to the $68 and $136 daily operating costs of permanent supportive housing and emergency shelter, respectively, one day of incarceration at Riker’s Island costs $1,414 and one day of hospitalization costs $3,609.

Another example in Denver indicates a similar trend. The study focused on individuals experiencing chronic homelessness who were in frequent interaction with the criminal legal system and emergency health services. When that group was enrolled in a city-operated supportive housing program, annual per-person costs for public resources such as jail, the court system, police, and emergency medical services lowered by $6,876.

Truthfully, the societal costs of incarceration go much deeper than daily operations and administrative fees. An estimated $370 billion each year is lost for people who have a criminal conviction or have spent time in prison—an enormous sum that could be spent on educational opportunities, buying a home, or a number of other economic investments that foster growth and community improvement. And when considering the massive amount of consequential loss associated with incarceration due to forgone wages, adverse health effects, and developmental challenges of children with incarcerated parents, the aggregate cost burden is believed to be roughly one trillion dollars.

These studies are incontrovertible proof that substituting jail and prison for housing is a gross misappropriation of taxpayer dollars, while providing no observable positive effects on solving homelessness.

True Solutions are Rehabilitative, Not Punitive

For years, it has been evident that real solutions focus on rehabilitating vulnerable populations, not jailing them. Time and time again, it’s shown that the solution is cheaper—fiscally and societally—than the problem. Comprehensive research has proven that criminalizing homelessness is expensive, wasteful of limited public resources, and harmful to public health and safety.

Now is the time to focus our collective efforts and funding on real solutions: creating broader shelter and housing models alongside comprehensive supportive services for displaced populations. Only then will we be able to observe progress in ending this crisis and restoring equity, safety, and dignity to our communities.

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