Our Publications
Affordable Housing Funder Eligibility Scan & Recommendations (June 2024)
The primary goal of this project was to analyze the criteria and processes for criminal legal system-impacted persons to access affordable housing in the Austin region. The project has two major deliverables:
- An analysis of criteria and processes for criminal legal system-impacted persons to access affordable housing, including both Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) and units within subsidized affordable housing developments; and
- Policy recommendations for funders to decrease barriers for criminal legal system-impacted individuals to access affordable housing.
Reentry Advocacy Project (RAP) Visioning & Implementation Plan (April 2023)
In 2023, Amanda Cassidy-Trejo (Reentry Advocacy Fellow) and the Reentry Advocacy Project network developed an implementation plan for potential growth, expansion, and funding of the Reentry Advocacy Project network. This report establishes three primary goal areas for RAP: Peer Support & Community Space, Advocacy Leadership Pipeline, and Resource Bank. The report also includes recommendations for the incoming Advocacy Fellow.
2022-2026 Reentry Roundtable Strategic Plan (September 2022)
Reentry Roundtable is very excited to announce the launch of our new strategic plan. This strategic plan outlines 5-year goals and strategies, a theory of change for the Roundtable's work, and an updated organizational identity statement including mission, vision, and core beliefs. As a strategic planning partner, MEASURE conducted an equity assessment for the Roundtable which included a historical timeline of incarceration in Austin/Travis County and a series of equity focus groups with persons directly impacted by the criminal justice system. The 2022-2026 Reentry Roundtable Strategic Plan was co-created by the Roundtable network, and we are very grateful to everyone who contributed to the strength and depth of this plan.
Civil Rights Strategic Agenda (June 2022)
The Roundtable, in partnership with the City of Austin and Travis County, has developed a strategic agenda with the goal of ensuring civil rights for persons with criminal backgrounds as measured through increased rates of housing stability and employment. These goals were informed by a series of listening sessions on the intersections of reentry and housing, homelessness, and employment. The Reentry Roundtable Civil Rights Strategic Agenda Work Group developed the goals and strategies with success measures and potential partners.
Diversion Focus Group Report Findings (April 2022)
In spring 2022 the Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable, on behalf of Travis County, designed and conducted focus groups to engage the feedback of local women who had previously experienced reentry from jail or prison and/or who had participated in diversion programs. In conjunction with Community Coalition for Health, the Roundtable engaged thirty women in focus groups. In the focus groups, participants were invited to share their hopes and dreams for the future, their past experience with diversion programs, how they would design better diversion programs, and what, if anything, would they go back in time to change or fix to prevent from being incarcerated or needing a diversion program.
Reentry Service Landscape Report (September 2021)
In 2021, the Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable's Reentry Service Landscape workgroup conducted a survey to collect updated program information from organizations providing reentry services. The results were uploaded to the Aunt Bertha website, findhelp.org. This report represents responses collected from 56 programs across 35 organizations. Reentry services were organized by these key domains: Employment, Training & Education, Civic & Community Services, Legal, Housing, Physical and Behavioral Health, Basic Needs, and Family. The Reentry Service Landscape Report will be used to launch a community of practice of providers offering targeted reentry services in Travis County.
Peer City Reentry Center Models: Best Practices (April 2021)
In accordance with the action steps outlined in the 2020 Reentry Progress Report, the Roundtable conducted a comparative study of reentry centers across the country in order to identify key elements of successful centers, including reentry centers in Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, New Mexico; Philadelphia; Houston; and Washington D.C. One of the key findings of that report is that existing city and county-wide reentry coalitions play a critical role in the success of community reentry centers or reentry one-stop shops. Some of the important roles that community coalitions play include sharing cohesive information about reentry in the community; aligning siloed service providers and other partners; and helping to develop a comprehensive advocacy strategy for reentry in the community.
Reentry Progress Report & Recommendations (September 2020)
This report represents the final product of the Data & Analysis working group over the past year and was submitted to the City of Austin and Travis County in September. The report provides an overview of reentry FAQ’s and a data brief of the Travis County reentry population; identifies common reentry “journeys;” assesses the state of reentry planning at area criminal justice institutions; provides recommendations for during incarceration, addressing immediate reentry needs, and addressing long-term reentry needs; and identifies next steps to improve reentry coordination in Travis County.
Texas Criminal Background Screening Guide for Rental Housing Providers (April 2018)
This Guide focuses on compliance with the federal Fair Housing Act and recent U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department guidance on the use of criminal records. The Roundtable designed this document to provide instruction to landlords and property managers on how best to comply with fair housing law and guidelines when implementing criminal background screenings for housing applicants.
Austin Housing Applicant Criminal Background Screening Template (April 2018)
This Template is designed for landlords and property managers to complete and make available to potential rental applicants. The Roundtable designed this document to provide instruction to landlords and property managers on how best to comply with fair housing law and guidelines when implementing criminal background screenings for housing applicants.
2018-2022 Reentry Roundtable Strategic Plan (October 2017)
We are thrilled to share the Roundtable's new strategic plan, adopted by the Planning Council in September after 4 months of hard work. The new strategic plan offers an updated mission and vision for the Roundtable, as well as clarity about the group's focus on engaging diverse stakeholders impacted by reentry; convening dialogue and critical conversations; advocating to support institutional and public policy change, and partnering to broaden our impact.
Locked Out: Criminal History Barriers to Affordable Rental Housing in Austin & Travis County, Texas (2016)
In 2015, the Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable undertook the task of assessing the criminal background screening policies of local publicly subsidized housing. This report is the result of that research and it provides an overview of the Roundtable’s findings and recommendations to inform policymakers, housing industry professionals, and other community leaders in better protecting the fair housing rights and overcoming barriers to housing for persons with criminal backgrounds in Austin and Travis County.The report reviews legal precedent and regulatory actions relating to fair housing for persons with criminal backgrounds, summarizes criminal background policies from area affordable housing properties, highlights promising practices, and recommends an approach and specific actions to move the local conversation forward.
Since February 2009, Travis County has participated in an ongoing justice reinvestment project, initially collaborating with the Urban Institute. The Urban Institute merged their justice reinvestment efforts with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) to better reflect the initiative’s national scope. In FY12, Justice Planning (JP) submitted an application for JRI grant funding to pay for permanent supportive housing and ancillary support services for two years for 22 chronically homeless mentally ill, frequent users of the Travis County jail.
In 2014, JP continued work on the Justice Reinvestment Initiative housing and case management pilot program. The JRI pilot provides permanent supportive housing, intensive case management, and ancillary support services, such as medication management and substance abuse treatment, to twenty-two chronically homeless frequent users of the Travis County Jail.
Click here to read the Roundtable's report on the key recommendations from the final report on the Justice Reinvestment Initiative Supportive Housing Pilot evaluation in Travis County.
Examining Reentry Needs and Gender-Responsive Strategies for Incarcerated Females: A Literature Review (October 2014)
A/TCRRT Reentry Report Card (September 2014)
A Review of Social Impact Bonds: Financing Social Service Programs Through Public-Private Partnerships (February 2014)
Social Impact Bonds Fact Sheet
Reentry Councils for Ex-Offenders: A Report on Ten States and Best Practices (August 2013)