Keep Women Out of Jail

Housing+Solutions is one of New York's most progressive, successful housing and support programs for women who are experiencing homelessness. We take a uniquely holistic approach to helping women build lives of their own. We provide housing so they can create real homes, help them get suitable jobs, and address the traumatic events that may have led to their homelessness: incarceration, poverty, violence, drug addiction, physical disabilities, and emotional suffering. More than counselors and advisors, we are empathetic, compassionate mentors and friends, providing each woman with tools that empower her to achieve personal and financial security for herself and the family she loves.

Our newest effort is to prevent homeless women who pose no danger to society from being unnecessarily detained at Rikers. With this campaign, our goal is to raise $7,500 to provide housing and support for women charged with misdemeanors.

We house them safely in their community, with their children if they have them, while they meet their legal obligations. Each year in New York City, more than 600 women spend weeks or months on Rikers Island because they can’t afford a minor bail. We work with bail reform agencies to identify women charged with misdemeanors who are also experiencing homelessness or who are unstably housed. Often, these are women who have struggled with poverty, trauma, addiction, homelessness, and mental health challenges.

When people charged with misdemeanors get access to bail, 88% had their case dismissed or resolved without a conviction. In comparison, only 38% of people who can’t afford bail have the same outcome. While being stuck at Rikers, they can end up losing their jobs, housing, spot in a shelter, or custody of their children. Women in our program have a safe place to stay and access to support services to help them attend court dates and get back on their feet. It costs New Yorkers about $500 per day to jail someone. At Housing+Solutions, we’re able to house and support a woman for about $50 a day. Our pilot program has already helped 8 women. In the next year with the help of our partners, we believe we can help 20 more women.

Your support helps us pay for services including:
*Safe, secure housing with furniture
*Trauma and mental health therapy
*Addiction counseling
*Employment services
*Assistance with accessing benefits
*Help navigating child custody

One of the women we’ve helped through this project, “Sharon” (name changed for privacy), was arrested on an assault charge. Even if she could have made bail, a six-month order of protection would have made it impossible for her to return to her NYC Housing Authority apartment. Our partners at the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund called to tell us they could post bail if we could offer her housing with mental health and social services. Sharon moved into one of our houses and began working with a trauma counselor, while continuing to work with her public defender and the Bail Fund staff. Her Housing+Solutions counselor also helped her arrange visits with her 6 year old daughter and eventually regain custody. Over a six month period, her case was satisfactorily resolved: she completed 15 hours of community service, she enrolled in a community mental health center, NYC Housing Authority found a new apartment for her, and her daughter moved home. We can only imagine how different her outcome could have been if Sharon had been stuck at Rikers for those six months.


Funds raised through our Bail Women Out campaign will go directly to house and support women who would otherwise be held at Rikers. Your donation will help these women take steps to put their lives on track, give them hope for the future, and motivation to live positively for themselves and their children, while they meet legal obligations, receive counseling from our experienced staff, and move on to a stable housing situation.

A kitchen inside a typical Housing+Solutions apartment.