A new program in Marion County hopes to help more people find housing after being incarcerated.
The Housing Navigator Program, run by the Marion County Coalition and Step Up Inc., will hire people who have been involved in the justice system to help their peers navigate the challenge of finding housing with a criminal record.
Lena Hackett, the founder and president of Community Solutions, which coordinates the Marion County Reentry Coalition. She said stable housing serves as the foundation for other needs— from employment and health care to getting an ID.
"Until we can get someone housed, we can't get them a job,” she said. “So everybody, no matter what their focus was, it was about housing.”
The housing navigators will be paid and will help people returning from incarceration with challenges. Those can include finding housing options, talking to landlords, completing applications, and addressing problems like a criminal history, credit issues, or not having identification.
There will also be funding to help secure housing, including paying for the first month’s rent or a security deposit.
Resources like this are essential, Hackett said, because people reentering society after incarceration often don’t qualify for resources that people who are unhoused may receive.
“We have this group of people who have been impacted by the criminal justice system who don't fit in any of those criteria,” she said.
Farrah Anderson is an investigative health reporter with WFYI and Side Effects Public Media. You can follow her on X at @farrahsoa or by email at fanderson@wfyi.org.
