You have just completed your prison sentence and you can finally go home. But, imagine you don’t have a place to go back home to – What do you do? Where do you go?

Safe, stable housing affects so many aspects of life:

• How can you look for or apply to employment without a home?
• Or, how do you secure a home without employment?
• How do you address health problems without a place to hang your hat?
• How do you get an ID or license without a permanent address?

When you are part of approximately 15% of people who experience homelessness in the year before they enter prison and are then 10x more likely to be homeless after release, access to stable housing is critical. If you are worried about housing and in need of assistance, please know there is help available.

As a leading advocate for individuals exiting the criminal justice system and reentering society, we here at the Reentry Coalition of New Jersey have been offering this type of guidance and solutions, specifically housing support, for more than 30 years.

• Rental Assistance – We offer specialized assistance to individuals who have secured rental housing and are looking for additional support. An application is available on our Resources page, scroll to the Housing & Rental Assistance section.
• Emergency Housing – Through our network of Agency Members, with locations throughout the state of New Jersey, we can help find and locate emergency housing options for those in need of immediate assistance.
• Financial Assistance – Sometimes, financial assistance is required by individuals along their journey to secure stable housing. In these unique cases, we can provide financial assistance to those individuals who qualify for this type of temporary, immediate support. Contact us if you are interested in this kind of support.
• Housing Assistance for RCRP Participants – For individuals who are currently incarcerated and serving their sentence in a Residential Community Reintegration Program (RCRP), we offer specialized housing assistance to help bridge the gap between their time of discharge from the RCRP and their ability to obtain permanent housing in the community. An application is available on our Resources page, scroll to the Housing & Rental Assistance section.
• Village of Hope – To keep up with the demand for housing, we also develop “out-of-the-box” housing options for individuals in need. Once such project is Village of Hope – a new tiny home community featuring transitional housing located in Bridgeton, NJ. In partnership with our agency member The Kintock Group & Gateway Community Action Partnership, this unique housing program offers temporary solutions for those on parole struggling to find shelter during their search for stable, safe housing.

For more information on our supportive housing services – including assistance applications and program eligibility – visit the Housing & Rental Assistance section on our Resource page: https://reentrycoalitionofnj.org/resources/.

For additional housing/rental inquires, contact us today: https://reentrycoalitionofnj.org/contact/.