How San Francisco Is Helping Give Ex-Offenders A Better Shot

[KamaAina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/28/housing-for-ex-offenders_n_7460476.html

San Francisco is helping former offenders adjust to life after prison by turning a single-room-occupancy hotel into free housing.

In a program spearheaded by the San Francisco Superior Court and the city's Adult Probation Department, the Drake Hotel in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood has been revamped as temporary housing for recently released low-level offenders and individuals who are on probation for more serious offenses. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the program is designed to serve people who are homeless and have drug or alcohol dependencies. Residents will be paired with case managers to help them with their addictions.

Advocates of the program say it will give a population at risk of recidivism a better chance at rebuilding their lives after leaving prison.

"You can’t let someone out of jail, give them $5 and say, 'Good luck,'" Krista Gaeta of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which manages supportive housing for about 1,500 individuals in the neighborhood, told the Chronicle. "The better plan is to do things like this so they can go out and get permanent housing, find work and not commit the crimes that got them in trouble in the first place."

[NV Whino]

1. Bravo!

We need more of this nationwide.

[NBachers]

2. As an ex-offender who never went back inside, I can attest to the effectiveness of the halfway house

I entered after leaving Federal prison.

The location, at Turk and Taylor, wasn't ideal for those who'd be tempted by the neighborhood's drug 'n' booze markets. But the neighborhood served as a constant reminder of where you'd be going if you went back into the life.

I've got nothing but good things to say about the facility and it's staff.