State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, hosted a town hall discussion with community members Oct. 13 about Home for Good, legislation that aims to reduce homelessness, strengthen communities and advance public safety by creating a comprehensive strategy to improve housing and support services for people returning from prison.
Johnson, who is chief sponsor of the legislation in the Senate, moderated a discussion that focused on the need for a coordinated statewide response that would be established by Home for Good to address the link between housing insecurity and incarceration.
Panelists included Ahmadou Dramé, director, Illinois Justice Project; Liz Nelson, associate director of Advocacy, Connections for the Homeless; Maritza Albarran, regional coordinator, Live Free Illinois Lake County; Stephen Miller, president/managing attorney, Coalition Legal; Andre Warship, Lake County Peacemakers and Coalition to Reduce Recidivism Male Repatriate of the Year Award Recipient; George Moore, executive director of Legacy Reentry Foundation; and Marc Jones, Waukegan Township supervisor and chairman of the Coalition to Reduce Recidivism.
Attendees included community members, local elected officials, faith leaders and participants of the Home for Good coalition, which is working with Johnson to pass the legislation through the Senate during the fall veto session. The measure was previously approved by the House in April.
“Home for Good is smart, sensible policy that also happens to be the right thing to do,” Johnson said. “At a time when we must invest every penny wisely, this program stands out as a way to save taxpayer money and improve public safety while supporting people who have not received adequate resources from our current system.”
Data from the Loyola Chicago Center for Criminal Justice shows as many as 70% of people struggle with stable housing and homelessness prior to incarceration. Each year, 15,000 people exit Illinois prisons, with the vast majority unable to find stable housing due to widespread inequities in the housing market and gaps in the human services system.
This lack of support contributes to a costly cycle in which nearly 40% of people return to Illinois prison within three years of release. Home for Good is designed to break this cycle and address the discriminatory and exclusionary human service, rental and employment policies that are holding our state back.
“I was told before I came home from prison about resources that would be available to me, but I never saw any,” said Maritza Albarran, regional coordinator, Live Free Illinois Lake County. “I had to advocate for myself and find organizations that were doing the work before I could navigate my way back to getting a real second chance at life. Home for Good will expand access to the basic tools people need to successfully reenter society – secure housing, food and support.”
“People leaving the system go into survival mode – if they can’t find a home, they can’t find a job,” said Andre Warship, Lake County Peacemakers and Coalition to Reduce Recidivism Male Repatriate of the Year Award Recipient. “I went through that same situation myself, and I’ve work hard to become a bridge for others to lead them to the resources they need. But the need continues to outweigh the help available, Home for Good will help address that at a statewide level.”
Research shows that secure housing provides dignity and stability and helps people returning from prison comply with the conditions of their release. This reduces the chances of recidivism, which improves public safety. It also saves taxpayer money.
Data from the State of Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council shows that each event of recidivism costs taxpayers and society an average of $199,011 when adjusted for inflation. Annually, that adds up to $1.1 billion. That’s in addition to more than $2 billion the state spends each year to fund the Illinois Department of Corrections. Home for Good aims to help reduce those costs over time.
Home for Good also aims to strengthen the state and local economy, as secure housing empowers more people to work and earn wages, growing the state’s tax base without raising taxes. Illinois Justice Project research found that every $1 invested in sustainably funding Home for Good will result in $5 in public savings and economic activity over three years, projected to be a $477 million benefit within the first three years alone.
Home for Good consists of four primary components: expanding rental assistance to help returning residents access housing; increasing wraparound services provided by community-based reentry organizations to connect people with behavioral health, physical health, job training, transportation, food, childcare, and other services; developing more reentry housing units, which will also expand economic opportunities for developers and communities impacted by high incarceration; and creation of the Home for Good Institute, which will provide cohort-based training and technical assistance to community-based organizations interested in developing and operating reentry housing.
“Home for Good is, at its core, a unification and expansion of programs that have been proven to work,” said Ahmadou Dramé, director of the Illinois Justice Project. “We see the successes of local organizations like those who shared their stories tonight, and it’s imperative these programs are given the support and structure needed to expand and grow.”
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October 22, 2026 at 01:55PM
