‘Cycle of offending’: Ex-cons face housing woes

Criminal justice expert and social worker Claire Seppings said when it came to people going into prison, the only people who “should be” homeless on release were those homeless to start with and who had little time in custody to address this.

“When it comes to people who get arrested and sentenced, I strongly advocate they need a full assessment on going into custody of what their housing situation is, and what’s their support network outside,” she said.

“And try to maintain all of that for as long as possible.

“Then, you reduce the (amount of) people walking out with nowhere to go.”

Homelessness is a major theme for many Geelong criminals, with defence lawyers often submitting crimes occurred around a period of housing instability and a need to sleep rough.

Jason has been imprisoned about 15 times, most recently for a serious assault against a woman.

He was released in October, 2022, and had been couch surfing ever since.

The 35-year-old said he was able to find a place in April, 2023, with help from Geelong non-profit The Power in You Project.

Jason said his insecure housing situation had “100 per cent” previously contributed to his reoffending.

He said not having somewhere to go led to drug use and other negative behaviours.

“When you’re on the street, you find it hard to actually get good sleep,” Jason said.

“So you use drugs so you don’t have to sleep (and then) every three or four days, I’d have a snooze.

“Finding somewhere that’s safe is very hard.

“It’s quite violent, and people want to steal your stuff, or your money if you happen to have any.”

Jason said there was a flow-on effect, where if someone knew they had a place to stay, it was easier to stop substance abuse or anti-social behaviours and re-enter society because they would feel safe.

Ms Seppings said ex-prisoner housing was a “fluid issue”, and trying to maintain a prisoner’s close relationships with their support network was complex.

“People can have a tendency to muck up when they’re in – they might start using (drugs) again, and then no one can visit them, and trust becomes an issue again,” she said.

“And then, at the end, (family) might say ‘I just can’t risk it, you coming back home’.”

Ms Seppings said if a prisoner was rejected by their support network, they might delay reaching out to someone within the prison system for help with securing housing.

She said it could be a “cycle” where ex-prisoners reoffended because they didn’t have a support network left or secure housing.

She said she recommended a thorough assessment of prisoners entering the prison system, to review relationships needing to be maintained and ways of doing so, if there were ways to continue paying private rent or a mortgage while they’re incarcerated, and if the prisoner had mental health or other personal circumstances to be considered.

Victoria’s Adult Parole Board 2021/22 Annual Report revealed almost one-third of all parole denials were due to the absence of suitable accommodation or insufficient time remaining on a person’s sentence to find suitable accommodation.

Many Geelong magistrates have had to reject bail applications because of this.

According to the report, one in four prisoners who withdrew parole applications in 2021/22 self-reported an absence of suitable accommodation was at least one reason for doing so.

Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale said social housing was one avenue to address the issue.

She said it was proved to reduce crime, and that more social housing was needed to “stop the cycle of offending”.

“Too many people entering prison are homeless or are stuck in prison because they have nowhere to live after release,” she said.

“This is more costly and damaging to community than building more social housing to meet demand.

“Investment in social housing is more cost effective than spending even more on prisons.

“We can make our community safer while addressing one of the key issues in our society.”

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesperson said: “Corrections Victoria provides some dedicated housing pathways and supports for people in prison, and works with the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and community organisations to provide help with maintaining existing housing and post-release housing needs.”

Homelessness appearing in our courts

Appearing for Joshua Janetzki, 30, Kirsty De Vercelli told the Geelong Magistrates Court he was experiencing homelessness in April 2021 when he stole food from a Woolworths at Corio Village and later became aggressive with arresting police officers.

Janetzki pleaded guilty in May this year.

“At the time of this offending he was not only unwell but was living a very dysregulated and difficult life.

“During the time (of homelessness), he instructed me that he had the constant feeling of being cold and unsafe and this contributed to his mental health decline,” Ms De Vercelli said.

While representing a Geelong man on theft charges, Elli Dawe told the Magistrates Court in April this year that while her client worked hard while incarcerated to change his life around for when he was back in the community, he struggled to find a place to live.

“Public housing is in dire need,” Ms Dawe said at the time.

In sentencing Tiffany Coles, 28, on theft charges she pleaded guilty to, magistrate Peter Mellas was told she struggled without housing.

“With a lot of people who come through the court now, the list of all their problems starts with losing housing or being forced from a home, which means everything else falls apart,” Mr Mellas said.

“You can’t do anything about (rehabilitation) if you’ve got nowhere to live. The way the housing situation is now, we can’t do anything (to change) that.”

In September last year, magistrate Simon Guthrie said he was troubled by one woman’s housing situation and was hesitant to release her on bail without that protection in place.

“Stable accommodation is still up in the air,” Mr Guthrie said.

Magistrate Franz Holzer sentenced Darcy Saville in September 2022 after he pleaded guilty to theft charges and heard his life had greatly improved since he had found housing and full time work.

However, he said homelessness should not be the primary excuse.

“If everyone who was homeless did this, what kind of world would we be living in?” Mr Holzer asked at the time.

“Your history is not great and even despite your homelessness at the time, these behaviours do you little credit.”

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