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LANSING - For inmates leaving jail or prison, finding a safe place to live and get support is one of the biggest challenges they face.
For people with criminal histories, the likelihood of experiencing homelessness is 10 times higher than other people.
One of the biggest challenges after incarceration is finding a safe and stable place to live, says Tony Gant, the director of policy at Safe & Just Michigan.
"Housing can be difficult, including having a criminal record that makes it harder to qualify for housing," says Gant. "That's coupled with the fact that many people leave jail with little money."
Housing instability can also, in turn, make employment difficult as many employers require a consistent address for communication, as well as reliable transportation to work.
There are ways a community can help, experts say.
Programs such as Bridges to Belonging, run by the Lansing-based Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, aim to provide resources for those leaving incarceration to get back on their feet.
Bridges to Belonging connects people to homes, hope and the community. From healthcare to housing and business to arts it aims to build a state where everyone has a home, says its website.
According to the nonprofit advocacy group Safe & Just Michigan based in Lansing, the ramifications of the legal system go far beyond incarceration.
"Policies should support their community reintegration, not impede with roadblocks to things like housing, employment, education and economic opportunity," it says on its website.
Safe & Just Michigan says it is working on the right to safe housing and stopping discrimination against formerly incarcerated people that blocks them from housing or job opportunities.
Gant says, "The ultimate goal is to ensure that people can access housing safely and efficiently without being denied because they have a criminal record."
There is a movement called "Ban the Box" which asks property owners and employers to hold off on looking into criminal records until after the application for a job or housing is reviewed.
"We are not asking people to eliminate the question of whether you have a felony conviction," says Gant. "Data shows that once they check that box, they are immediately taken out of consideration as applicants."
The premise of the initiative is that an employer or property owner is able to get to know applicants without the prior incarceration being held over their head. This allows the property owner or employer to then weigh the criminal background with who the person is.
"There's a huge stigma that, once someone makes a mistake, they are thereby forever dangerous, which leads to a lot of problems we see on the back end," says Gant. "It is rooted in a lot of fear."
In fact, the research tells a different story.
Research suggests that the older people get, the less likely they are to commit crimes.
"In fact, the longer a person goes without committing a crime, they become less likely to commit a crime than somebody who's never committed a crime before," says Gant.
Another program that aims to help homeless ex-offenders is Detroit-based Nation Outside which uses peer mentoring to build trust and enforce responsibility.
Its website states that "when people have housing, transportation and guidance from someone who has walked the same path, they are more likely to succeed."
Gant, himself a former inmate, explains: "Peer mentoring is where they pair a formerly incarcerated person with another formerly incarcerated person that is trained to mentor people so they kind of walk along with each other."
"People with criminal convictions are just like everybody else," says Gant. "I would hope that people would have a bit more grace for folk not to judge them for the rest of their life based on one mistake."