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Schedule:
Friday, January 17, 2025
Grand Ballroom C, Level 2 (Sheraton Grand Seattle)
* noted as presenting author
Background and Purpose: Housing instability amplifies the risk of criminal involvement and recidivism, particularly among those already impacted by the legal system. Furthermore, legal system-impacted individuals are at a higher risk of facing housing instability due to challenges associated with obtaining stable housing. System-impacted young adults, in particular, experience this risk at a disproportionate rate, given their high recidivism rates. Despite this, there remains a gap in understanding the specific relationship between legal system involvement and housing instability, particularly among young adults. Our study aimed to investigate the impact of convictions on housing instability among young adults with histories of arrest.
Methods: We conducted a telephone survey from January to November 2022 with a sample of (n=76) young adults with a history of arrest in Los Angeles County. The participants were recruited in Los Angeles jails in partnership with a county reentry service provider, and the sample was expanded via snowball sampling to include participants in the community with recent carceral involvement. The survey instrument examined present reentry needs, housing, access to health care services, other dimensions of health and well-being, and sociodemographic characteristics. We used three binomial logistic regression models to explore the primary exposure variable of interest: convictions, which were used as a proxy for involvement in the legal system. Models controlled for demographics and social characteristics, including race (categorized as “Black” and “non-Black”), years of education, drug dependence, and adverse childhood exposures (ACEs), to explore their potential modifying effect on the relationship between being unhoused and number of convictions.
Results: In total, 33 study participants self-identified as Black, with an average age of 23, while 56 participants were male. There were an equal number of participants who reported being unhoused to those who did not. Analyses demonstrated that the ACEs covariate was robust as it was statistically significant across all of the models (p < 0.01). Holding all of the other variables constant, each additional adverse childhood experience was associated with an increased odds of being unhoused of about 61% according to all of the models, (OR: 1.583, 1.579, 1.578 respectively). Additionally, the convictions variable alone was not found to be significant in increasing one’s risk of being unhoused. However, the interaction between race and convictions was statistically significant (p < 0.01). Controlling for other covariates, the presence of this interaction increased the probability of being unhoused among Black system-impacted young adults by 66% (OR: 1.976) compared to non-Black system-impacted individuals.
Conclusions and Implications: The correlation between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and housing instability suggests childhood trauma's potential impact on later-life housing stability. Findings underscore the potential value of interventions addressing systemic inequalities and offering trauma-informed support, especially for young adults with legal system involvement. Additionally, the interaction between race and convictions highlights housing instability's critical aspect among Black system-impacted individuals. Further research can explore comprehensive strategies addressing root causes and racial disparities in housing instability among young adults with legal system involvement.
Methods: We conducted a telephone survey from January to November 2022 with a sample of (n=76) young adults with a history of arrest in Los Angeles County. The participants were recruited in Los Angeles jails in partnership with a county reentry service provider, and the sample was expanded via snowball sampling to include participants in the community with recent carceral involvement. The survey instrument examined present reentry needs, housing, access to health care services, other dimensions of health and well-being, and sociodemographic characteristics. We used three binomial logistic regression models to explore the primary exposure variable of interest: convictions, which were used as a proxy for involvement in the legal system. Models controlled for demographics and social characteristics, including race (categorized as “Black” and “non-Black”), years of education, drug dependence, and adverse childhood exposures (ACEs), to explore their potential modifying effect on the relationship between being unhoused and number of convictions.
Results: In total, 33 study participants self-identified as Black, with an average age of 23, while 56 participants were male. There were an equal number of participants who reported being unhoused to those who did not. Analyses demonstrated that the ACEs covariate was robust as it was statistically significant across all of the models (p < 0.01). Holding all of the other variables constant, each additional adverse childhood experience was associated with an increased odds of being unhoused of about 61% according to all of the models, (OR: 1.583, 1.579, 1.578 respectively). Additionally, the convictions variable alone was not found to be significant in increasing one’s risk of being unhoused. However, the interaction between race and convictions was statistically significant (p < 0.01). Controlling for other covariates, the presence of this interaction increased the probability of being unhoused among Black system-impacted young adults by 66% (OR: 1.976) compared to non-Black system-impacted individuals.
Conclusions and Implications: The correlation between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and housing instability suggests childhood trauma's potential impact on later-life housing stability. Findings underscore the potential value of interventions addressing systemic inequalities and offering trauma-informed support, especially for young adults with legal system involvement. Additionally, the interaction between race and convictions highlights housing instability's critical aspect among Black system-impacted individuals. Further research can explore comprehensive strategies addressing root causes and racial disparities in housing instability among young adults with legal system involvement.