Senator says spending on reentry housing would save taxpayer money

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(The Center Square) – An Illinois state senator says spending taxpayer dollars to provide housing for people released from prison would ultimately save taxpayer money.

State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, asked that Home for Good legislation be considered during fall veto session.

“Home for Good is smart, sensible policy that also happens to be the right thing to do,” Johnson told The Center Square.

House Bill 624 would take an initial amount up to $35 million from the state budget for reentry services, civil legal aid and economic development.

Citing data from the Illinois Sentencing Policy Council, Johnson said each event of recidivism costs taxpayers nearly $200,000 when adjusted for inflation.

“Annually, that adds up to roughly $1.1 billion. That’s in addition to the more than $2 billion the state spends each year to fund the Illinois Department of Corrections, and so Home for Good will help reduce those costs over time,” Johnson said.

Last spring, opponents expressed concern about spending taxpayer dollars on people with criminal histories.

The Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Housing Development Authority filed witness slips in opposition to the bill, but Johnson said it’s her understanding that the agencies no longer have the same concerns about budget constraints they had last spring.

A coalition of groups supporting the legislation said 15,000 people exit Illinois prisons each year, with the vast majority unable to find stable housing.

“Secure housing empowers people to work and earn wages and so growing the state sales tax base without raising taxes,” Johnson said.

The Buffalo Grove Democrat said the bill would create the Home for Good Institute to train and assist community-based organizations interested in developing and operating reentry housing.

“This legislation endeavors to develop more re-entry housing units, which is going to expand economic development opportunities for developers and communities most impacted by high incarceration,” Johnson said.

Fall veto session is scheduled from Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3.

Committee hearings and floor debate can be seen via Blue Room Stream.

Sean Reed contributed to this story