Ian Hutson: Salvation Army Mission Officer on the report finding secure housing is key to reducing reoffending

A Salvation Army report finds secure housing is a key to reducing reoffending.  

The first of six reports into prisoner reintegration into the community suggests stable accommodation is the foundation for everything that follows.  

It says it helps address mental health and addiction issues and helps reconnect with family and the workforce.  

Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit's Mission Officer Ian Hutson told Ryan Bridge that when leaving prison, people often have no means to contact landlords and no form of ID, so they can’t apply for MSD and thus can’t afford bond.  

He says the Steps to Freedom Grant, which is a payment of up to $350, isn’t much good for securing decent housing.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Forty three percent of prisoners back in jail within two years.
In New Zealand, two thirds commit new crimes within two years.
The Salvation Army report out this morning blames housing. Ian
Hudson's Salvation Army mission officer with me, Ian, good morning,
good morning, to be with you. Is that number getting better?
We are more I've just got a text here from Graham,

(00:20):
says Ryan. In the eighties, I remember from experience, the
recidivism rate was around eighty percent.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I wouldn't know how far back it would be at
that level, but this has been quite whatever level it
used to be. This is very high world by world standards,
and it's been pretty stable. It hasn't gone up or
down much for we've been doing these reports State of

(00:48):
the Nation reports now for about twenty years. It's not
gotten any better, and we've got one of the highest
imprisonment rates in the world, and we just think it's
time to try and do something to bring those numbers down.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
You're saying housing is a big problem, that when they
get out they don't have a good house to go to,
the more likely to commit crimes. As a result. You
said that we are doing worse on this measure than
other countries. Are other countries doing better with housing?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yes they are. I mean the issues that people in
New Zealand face when they leave prison is that they
don't have any access to landlords when they're trying to
arrange for leaving prison obviously, I mean when you're inside,
you don't have that access, you're unlikely I mean landlords

(01:39):
would have some degree of not wanting to take you anyway,
and then released very often or too often without any
ID so they can't get access to MSD money, so
they don't have enough money to put up for bond
or any of those kinds of things. And so basically
when they are when they're set free, if you like,

(02:03):
they end up with three hundred and fifty dollars of
what's called the Steps to Freedom grant, which isn't really
much good to get you into any kind of decent housing.
And what we've discovered, well, the things that we've seen.

(02:23):
One of the reports that was done by the University
of Auckland study had over one hundred people that they
looked at. They found that people that didn't get good
or stable housing were four point six times more likely
to re offend than those who had stable housing. So

(02:43):
that's kind of what we're aiming at to try to
bring that.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
I understand. And the other problem you've got is when
they're in prison, are they being rehabilitated? What percentage of
them actually want to be.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, it's quite a low percentage of people that get
any kind of help well are in prison, and.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
So how many wanted that's well, it's pretty.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Hard to estimate that. What I do know is that
quite a few people when they leave prison actually want
to turn their life around. I mean, they don't want
to end up back there. And what we see, as
you mentioned in the introduction, that forty three percent of
prisoners end up back in prison. And I mean I

(03:32):
remember visiting prison sometime back and one of the workers
there describing the way that she saw young men leaving
prison and then she saw them in the community and
they were so excited leaving, wanting to you know, looking
forward to it, and then.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
The hope it turns to custard once they get out.
Ian appreciate your time this morning in Hadson Salvation Army
Mission Opposite. For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge,
listen live to news Talks. It be from five am
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