A Real Chance at Housing: How a Landlord Mitigation Fund Could Disrupt the Cycle of Poverty and Mass Incarceration
As someone who is directly impacted by overbroad housing restrictions for people with criminal records, the experience of trying to find a place to live has been absolutely crushing. It's like an invisible weight that never gets lighter. It's physically, mentally, and emotionally draining to continue to put up a fight in a seemingly never-ending battle of securing a place to live. The pain that is endured after hearing “no” over and over again truly settles into your soul and tugs at your sanity.
My difficulty with securing housing is not an isolated experience. In Gainesville, so many others are facing the same obstacles, denied stability not by the lack of effort, but by systemic barriers that make housing inaccessible. Being a current fellow at Community Spring has pushed me to look deeper into this, how background checks keep families trapped in cycles of poverty and homelessness, and what can be done to change it.
Everyone needs a real chance at housing, but the barriers that come with having a record and trying to secure housing has quickly changed from a big issue to a state of emergency.
As a part of my fellowship, I’m looking to find real solutions to the housing barriers that so many people face. One of the most promising ideas I’ve found is a Landlord Mitigation Fund. This is an insurance-style safety net that offers financial protection to landlords who lease units to tenants with criminal histories or other things that make them “at risk” to landlords. Through this fund, landlords are eligible for reimbursement if they experience unpaid rent, property damage, legal costs, or other qualifying losses. By reducing perceived risk, the fund encourages broader participation from private landlords and increases stable housing opportunities for justice-impacted individuals.
This process has been successfully established in many places, including Tallahassee, Oregon, and Washington D.C. Other models include Housing Connector, like the one in Orlando. The Landlord Mitigation fund here in Gainesville, although limited, is offered through an organization called Keys To Home. My goal is to help broaden the reach and impact of these efforts. Increasing the fund, adding incentives, and expanding the reimbursements could increase the number of participating landlords and reduce homelessness among the formerly incarcerated.
These programs can improve public safety and save taxpayer dollars. The data shows that stable housing reduces recidivism, which means it reduces crime. It’s understandable to want tax dollars used wisely. But the average annual cost on taxpayers to incarcerate someone in Florida can exceed $30,000 per person. Every time someone exiting the justice system stays housed rather than cycling back into jail, communities save money, courts are less burdened, and public safety increases.
People with criminal histories want the same things as everyone else - to get a job, connect with family, and move forward. Housing is a vital piece to that puzzle. Many people coming home from incarceration are parents, blue-collar workers, and community members simply seeking a second chance. Instead of viewing them as threats, we should see them as human beings who will succeed if given a real chance. Judging a person solely based on their record erases the vast diversity of people who have finished their sentence, rebuilt their lives, raised families, and contributed to their communities. The new story to replace it could be that landlords and tenants are partners in housing stability and both deserve safety, support, and respect.
The data shows that over 1,200 people return home to Alachua County from incarceration each year. These figures only reflect felony convictions and do not include federal or misdemeanor cases, which represent thousands of additional people in our community. The question before us is simple: do we want a community that creates pathways to stable jobs and housing, or one that traps people in cycles of unemployment and homelessness? The mitigation fund isn’t about forcing landlords into risk. It’s about creating a balanced system where landlords feel protected and tenants with records get a real chance. Housing becomes a shared investment, not a battlefield.
I will end with this excerpt from my poem “Feelings”:
So I will forever continue to develop the state of mind that is conducive to my desired outcome. So being a black woman gives me a first-hand look instantly upon birth to the harsh reality I can become lost in if I do not have enough hope within myself to strive for better. Having been a part of endless trauma throughout my life, I feel I have lived experience maneuvering through turmoil in real time.
