Reintegration: Making Home Base

In The Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit’s (SPPU) annual State of the Nation report, prison reintegration continues to be an area of concern for the Unit. Lt-Colonel Ian Hutson, mission officer, considers the importance of securing housing for those reintegrating, and offers some practical solutions to make that transition easier.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, more than 43 percent of people released from prison return within two years, and almost two‑thirds (59.2%) reoffend, highlighting the urgent need for effective reintegration strategies that support people to build stable, crime‑free lives on release. Successful reintegration requires ensuring that people return to the community with the stability, support and resources necessary to move forward; without these foundations, individuals are far more likely to experience instability, crisis and ultimately, re‑imprisonment. One of the key factors that research shows to influence a person’s likelihood of reoffending is secure housing—having a home base.

Without a secure home base, people cannot establish themselves back into the community and obtain the support needed to deal with issues that commonly contribute to reoffending. The research that exists points to significantly less reoffending occurring with people released into a secure housing situation in comparison to those who do not obtain suitable housing.

One University of Auckland study (‘Going Straight Home’) noted that ‘those living in unstable housing six months after prison were 4.6 times more likely to be re-imprisoned.’

If we in Aotearoa New Zealand want to be effective at reducing crime, we need to do more than merely locking people up without addressing the factors that lead to offending and reoffending. What has become apparent is that many people are released from prison without a reintegration plan, and many are unable to indicate where they will be living on release. Without some support, the obstacles that people encounter are significant and many. They can include:

• an inability to effectively arrange for accommodation from behind bars, due to having no contact with or ability to be interviewed by landlords. There are also reports that indicate a general reluctance by landlords to offer tenancy to people with any kind of criminal history;

• that people are not always aware of when they will be released until immediately or soon after their parole board hearing, or in the case of remand prisoners, until after the trial when they are given immediate release as part of a time-served sentence;

• financial obstacles, such as the general two-week ‘stand-down’ period for benefits, having no recognised form of identity (which is required by MSD to access any benefit), not having a bank account, and only having a very inadequate Steps to Freedom grant provided on release;

• a struggle to find safe accommodation for women, without returning to places where they have experienced abuse in the past or may do so in the future—ie, a boarding house or insecure accommodation.

The cost of not supporting released prisoners into secure housing is immense for our country—high reoffending rates, more victims, the financial cost of incarceration, let alone the sheer associated human misery that individuals, their whānau and the wider community experience.

The following are some key ways of addressing this concerning gap for many in the reintegration process:

• Accommodation coordinators are employed, and clear information about specialist housing provision is available to prisoners and their whānau well before release.

• All prisoners have a reintegration plan on release, with all the basic details in place—ID, Steps to Freedom grant and a bank account set up.

• Prisoners have sufficient financial support to transition from prison into suitable accommodation—including a significantly increased Steps to Freedom grant.

• There are more funded supportive accommodation service alternatives to provide higher levels of wraparound reintegration support for those who need it in the short-to medium-term as they transition back into the community.

To read the report, go to salvationarmy.org.nz/6Pillars. This is the first in a series of six reports that will be published throughout 2026.