Partner Spotlight: Jubilee Housing

This week’s partner spotlight is Jubilee Housing, a nonprofit in the district with a mission to build diverse, compassionate communities that create opportunities for everyone to thrive. They accomplish this by building justice housing — deeply affordable housing, with nearby services, located in thriving neighborhoods. With a vision for a world where access to basic resources and opportunities are available to everyone, it comes as no surprise that Jubilee Housing has a heart for returning citizens and their successful transition out of incarceration.

More than a decade ago, Jubilee Housing began working directly on the challenges facing returning citizens, and since 2011, their transitional housing and services program has supported more than 200 women and men returning from incarceration, growing to an average of 45 individuals annually with less than 10% recidivism.

At the same time, Jubilee has seen the gaps in pre- and post- transitional housing grow such that after a year of transitional housing with stable employment, money in the bank, and a solid social network, residents still cannot find a suitable long term home. The conflux of gentrification, mass incarceration, and structural racism combine to create a “perfect storm” for people returning home from incarceration. Jubilee is working to address these challenges by expanding their reentry program to provide more immediate and long term housing for returning citizens and by advocating on a policy level in collaboration with the Reentry Action Network and ACT Initiative partners.

We asked Jubilee what they hope the ACT Initiative will accomplish in our city for returning citizens:

Jubilee hopes the ACT Initiative will remove stigma for those returning from incarceration, creating greater awareness and openness to welcoming returning citizens into every neighborhood and ensuring they can rebuild their lives. We also hope it leads to greater opportunities for returning citizens to thrive and inspires community members to play an active role in supporting returning citizens.

We are inspired by the work that Jubilee Housing does every day to create stronger, flourishing communities in our city — and we are thrilled to have them as one of our partners.