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Six halfway houses and homeless shelters have met the county's requirements to participate in a new program in which they will be paid to house criminal offenders.
Allen County Community Corrections has agreed to pay certain shelters for housing offenders released from prison who participate in Re-Entry Court, an intensive court-monitoring program.
County officials plan to spend $216,000 to house up to 50 men and women in the next four to five months, said Sheila Hudson, director of community corrections.
The county received state money last year to help build a county-run transitional housing facility for Re-Entry Court participants.
But the underfunded construction project would have delayed providing a new headquarters for the sheriff's department, and the county commissioners decided in February to put off the community corrections project.
After that decision, corrections officials considered using the Work Release Center at Lima and Carroll roads to house some of these offenders, Hudson said.
But working with existing shelters allows the agencies - many of which are non-profits and already house Re-Entry Court and home detention participants - to receive steady income for a service they already provide.
Although the arrangement isn't ideal, it is still beneficial, Hudson said.
The county will pay the agencies $15 a day per person for a stay of 60 to 90 days. The county will also transport Re-Entry Court participants to and from the houses to the Community Corrections building on Superior Street for their mandated classes and programming - also a new service, she said.
This is the first time the county has entered into formal agreements to pay local halfway houses.
Hudson hopes to add additional shelters and halfway houses to the mix.
Local corrections officials see stays in halfway houses as a second step toward independence after offenders spend time in a county-run facility. But because plans to construct a transitional housing building were stopped, creating these agreements with local shelters seemed the next logical step, Community Corrections spokesman Stan Pflueger said.
Although the city's homeless shelters traditionally don't work with inmates and recently released offenders, they were invited to participate.
County officials hope some of those agencies would be willing to take in some offenders to increase the number of available beds, Pflueger said.
Existing residential agencies that serve offenders such as Wings of Hope and Shepherd's House are typically full and can't take in more offenders, Pflueger said.
The agreements with the county, however, that are retroactive to March 1, state that the agencies met the county requirements for insurance, zoning and background checks on staff.
The agreements, approved by the county commissioners last week, don't require the agencies to provide beds for Community Corrections, he said.
None of the eligible agencies has billed the county. But 20 to 25 men and women have been staying in the eligible homes since the beginning of March, Pflueger said.
Hope House, a homeless shelter for women suffering from drug and alcohol addition, is among the eligible agencies.
But shelter director Mary Etheart doesn't plan to accept Re-Entry Court participants soon. She agreed to participate to keep her shelter's doors open to anyone who might need the shelter's services.
But the shelter accepts federal funding, limiting who she can take in.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development does not consider inmates just released from prison as homeless, though many are.
To take in women participating in the Re-Entry Court program, Etheart would have to add beds not paid for by HUD, she said.
Wings of Hope has housed women on Re-Entry Court for years.
But the home relies on grants and donations, and the county money is “a godsend,” founding director Linda Kluczinske said.
The new funding covers only a small amount of the overall cost to shelter the women, who stay six months to a year. Wings of Hope picks up the tab, Kluczinske said.
Other local halfway houses charge their residents for their stay, however.
And the county's contribution will help offset the cost to offenders, Pflueger said, allowing them to save money for other needs like buying a car, paying child support or saving to pay for their own home.
aiacone@jg.net
