ABSTRACT
While scholars have long hypothesized that individuals leaving prison have difficulty securing stable housing, little systematic empirical work existed on the subject until recently. This chapter provides a detailed review of work to date on housing insecurities, including residential mobility, eviction, difficulty paying rent, homelessness, and neighborhood quality among formerly incarcerated persons. This growing body of research indicates that the formerly incarcerated are more likely to experience these residential hardships and live in disadvantaged neighborhoods than never-incarcerated persons, net of prior disadvantage and housing insecurities. Potential explanations for these housing insecurities include the stigma of incarceration, intermediate criminal justice sanctions, the stress of transition, and standard correlates of insecurity in the general population. Consideration is also given to the residential insecurities faced by family members of the incarcerated as well as the influence of incarceration and reentry on neighborhoods. Despite the recent surge in research, pressing questions remain, hence the chapter closes with several suggestions for future research as well as a discussion of the broader policy implications.
