Every year, over 650,000 people, more than 10,000 every week, are released back into society from state and federal prisons. A lack of permanent housing is an important issue facing ex-inmates. The risks of parole violation and rearrests are higher for those who have no stable home upon release. The first response to homelessness has been shelters. Shelters are considered transitional in nature and lack the necessary support to assist offenders with their individual needs. Transitional housing programs have been tried as a substitute for shelters. However, temporary or transitional housing is not the stable answer to ending homelessness; projects that support permanent forms of housing can be more successful in fostering independence, especially for frequent users of the system. Frequent users are those with repeated episodes of both incarceration and homelessness who typically use other social services at higher levels, such as emergency rooms and substance abuse services. The Mecklenburg County FUSE project, or MeckFUSE, fosters independence for these frequent users while providing access to mental health and substance abuse treatment as well as medical care. This study looks at the demographic and individual characteristics of the MeckFUSE participants, the improvements they made, and the impact of the program on the participants’ criminal behavior.
