The Dream Starts Tonight

Getting pro-active about housing security and re-entry issues

I need to preface this by saying how incredibly, indescribably, grateful and blessed I am. Those words do not even begin to convey the tremendous amount of privilege and grace I have experienced since my life hit rock bottom just four years ago. I walked out of prison years early on December 14, 2020 having no idea where I was even going to live because I was released as an emergency measure to the custody of a friend of my lawyer. Today, a mere 221 days later, with the help of so many amazing individuals that have been placed in my path, I have made the beginnings of The Dream come true.

One of the many obstacles facing returning citizens is that of housing. Housing is inherently tied to employment. When you’re returning from a period of incarceration, this means you’re already starting a step behind typical citizens because not only do you most always not have any money, you also have difficulty securing meaningful, sustainable employment. Housing and employment are very circular issues. Without secure housing, it’s hard to be able to prepare oneself for work each day by showering and eating a proper meal. And it’s obviously near impossible to secure housing without the all important job. In fact, if one doesn’t have a home to return to, this can prolong the stay of incarceration because without a home to go to returning citizens aren’t eligible for programs such as home confinement or certain kinds of work release.

My entire adult life I have been a champion of accessible, affordable, safe and secure housing. That didn’t change when I imploded my life, spiraled into addiction, and then went to prison. Discovering that justice involvement only exacerbated the typical issues the working poor have finding housing just furthered my resolve. Being in a position where my departure from prison was delayed (thankfully only very temporarily) due to a lack of secure housing made this a priority issue for me.

Even before I left prison, I started forming The Dream in my mind. I didn’t want anyone to ever have to sit in prison again because there was no secure home for them to go to. I didn’t want anyone who was working and able to pay a reasonable, affordable rent to be turned down or financially gouged because of a felony conviction. I didn’t want anyone with children to have to stay apart from their children because housing that could comfortably fit all their family members was out of their reach due to prior criminal justice involvement. I didn’t want anyone to have to choose between a housing program and living with their significant other.

Basically, I decided I wanted to be a property owner who, instead of turning away people with criminal justice involvement, actually marketed to them. And I wanted to do it without charging them premium rates for the privilege. I wanted to base their eligibility for housing on their history of good payments and ability to pay their rent in the future, not their criminal background check. I wanted their monthly rent payment to reflect the local economy, not mistakes they may have made decades earlier. I wanted to provide housing for mothers with justice involvement and their children, without forcing them to split from their partners and co-parents in order to obtain reasonably priced housing. I made a long term goal that eventually, I want to know of a number I can call in every metro area in every US state and Canadian province, and find a property acceptable for someone to move into upon leaving an incarceral setting, or a family dwelling for any justice involved family in need. Now that’s a decades long goal, but what I could do in the short term was start with simply one multi-family dwelling, in my one town.

I had an idea. In fact, I actually had a pretty decent idea. What I didn’t have was money. I decided I would look for grants and funding.

A few weeks later I was browsing through houses for sale online. I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I thought maybe I should get a fixer-upper. After all, I am my father’s daughter, and I am more than capable of being a project manager on a renovation. Maybe I should get a pre-foreclosure. Maybe I should get just a single family home with a ton of bedrooms and run it more as a rooming house. I just wasn’t sure. The one thing I was absolutely sure of was I knew I wanted to be by the water (since I was going to be living in one of the units). And then I saw a property that just spoke to me. I wasn’t sure where I was going to get the money. I figured maybe there were grants or something out there. But I loved this house. I absolutely loved it. And then I went to visit the house, and there were fleur-de-lys on all the mailboxes: the symbol of my beloved Quebec. Obviously, I decided this was a sign.

I didn’t know how yet, but I knew this place was meant to be mine.

Through sheer luck and connections, one day I met an investor [Ed. Semyon Dukach— I wanted to make sure I had his permission first!] who has a philosophy that people who have overcome adversity are solid, proven risks for business because they know how to get through things and aren’t daunted when the going gets tough. We met in a social manner, and he asked me what I wanted to do with my life now that I was out of prison. I told him about The Dream. I was just telling him. I wasn’t pitching, because I only knew him socially and as a tech investor. It didn’t even occur to me he might be interested in my idea, since my idea was property management.

I explained The Dream and our conversation wandered to other discussions about current events and culture, as one does in a social setting. At the end he said “hey, your idea… when you’re ready to do that, when you find a property, and you’re serious, come at me. I might want to be involved.” I thought he was just being nice. Encouraging, even. Later I would find out that entirely unbeknownst to me, he was actually an extremely experienced property investor.

Today, in my role as the manager of his property investment, we closed on our first triplex, a mere block from the beach in West Haven, Connecticut.

This project is already full. And I just got the keys today.

We’re providing housing for five justice involved adults and a total of nine minor children between all of them, in a safe, affordable, positive setting.

But it’s not enough.

If someone calls me tonight and says “listen, my brother can leave prison but we don’t have a room for him here, do you have a one bedroom he can go to until we can find him a place once he’s out?” I don’t. And I don’t know anyone who does. Even though there are rooms empty all over this city. In every city in this state, in every state in this nation. So this isn’t enough. This is just a beginning. And I’m not stopping until I can make that happen every time someone calls me.

So mark it down, because The Dream definitely starts tonight!