The Minnesota Department of Corrections says homelessness among those released from state prisons dropped below 20% in 2022, a 6% reduction from the previous year. The new data can be found in the 2022 DOC Homelessness Report submitted annually to the Minnesota Legislature.

“Stable housing is a key factor in successful reentry into communities from incarceration,” Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said. “When people have stable housing, employment opportunities, and access to health care services, they are much better able to positively reintegrate into society and are less likely to be involved in the justice system in the future. “

Commissioner Schnell credits several factors for fewer incarcerated people being homeless upon release last year. The commissioner cited a renewed DOC interagency agreement with Department of Human Services. The agreement increased capacity to connect higher-risk homeless persons to public assistance benefits prior to release.

Other factors include:

• The DOC’s implementation of person-centered practices
• The development of the DOC Homeless Mitigation Plan
• Decreased COVID impacts on facility operations and programming, which increased individualized delivery of reentry services and case planning.
• Federal Coronavirus Emergency Response Grant funds provided for a full-time housing coordinator at the DOC, additional emergency housing dollars, and cited culturally specific housing programs in disparate state areas.

In the 2022 DOC Homelessness report, data was analyzed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022. During that period, 4,586 individuals were released from Minnesota prisons to supervised release. Approximately 19% of those released were homeless to known or unknown locations. This represents, a six percent reduction, or 254 fewer releases to homelessness, than the prior year.

The following data is highlighted in the 2022 Homelessness Report and is related to those on supervised release on January 19, 2023. In total, 476 or .06% of the total number of individuals on Supervised Release are experiencing homelessness. Of those individuals, approximately 46% of individuals on Supervised Release experiencing homelessness and housing instability identify as black, indigenous and persons of color (BIPOC).

Commissioner Schnell says while positive improvements have been made in housing stability for those releasing from prison, there is still have much more work to do, especially for BIPOC Minnesotans.

Going forward, the 2023 Minnesota Legislature approved significant investments in this area, allocating $4.3 million in FY24/25 and $3.4 million in FY26/27. The funding will support housing stabilization services, housing coordinator capacity, rental assistance, and culturally responsive transitional housing.