DOC says transitional housing helps reentry but capacity and exits vary; 403 served in FY25

Kristen Calvert (Deputy Commissioner, DOC), Jill Moore (housing program administrator) and Travis Denton (Chief of Operations) described DOC’s transitional housing program and stabilization funds used to place people leaving incarceration into supervised community housing. Moore said transitional housing programs offer wraparound services and case management and that applications can begin one year before projected release.

DOC reported that in state fiscal year 2025, 403 individuals were served through DOC transitional housing with 58,111 bed‑days used. Moore told the committee 86% of referrals to transitional housing grantees were accepted, and 89% of participants who exited transitional housing were not charged with a new crime; 87 participants exited to permanent housing during the year.

Committee members asked about people who are released without housing and whether some people leave incarceration to General Assistance hotel placements; DOC said some individuals do lack housing on release and that transitional housing capacity and stabilization funds are part of the reentry strategy. DOC also said program length varies by grantee (some require 90‑day commitments, some up to a year) and that bed utilization averaged about 71% in FY25, below the target of 80%.

Lawmakers requested counts of people released from corrections who later used GA emergency housing and asked DOC to provide follow‑up data on length of stay, exits by outcome category, and the annual number of people who lack housing at discharge.