17 December 1999
The National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders is calling for more investment in affordable rented housing and an end to blanket bans on offenders by local authorities.
Homeless ex-prisoners are twice as likely to commit further crimes as those with living arrangements, according to the report, Going Straight Home, published by Nacro on December 13.
Some housing authorities reduce ex-offenders access to accommodation through exclusion policies.
'In some cases these take a blanket approach to past criminal activity, even when there is no evidence of risk to the community, or when any such risk will be increased by a refusal of housing,' it claims.
Where tenants are evicted for anti-social behaviour, landlords should attempt to keep in touch with people who are likely to reoffend.
Tim Bell, Nacro's director of housing, said: 'There is little sense in evicting offenders, or stopping them from getting housing in the first place, if all we do is displace homelessness and crime elsewhere.'
PFdec1999
