Felons Face Cycle of Perpetual Homelessness

“Housing really needs to come first. They need a safe place to go at night, whether that be in a shelter or whether it be in a home or whatever it is, they need that security.” — Pittsburg Housing Director Quentin Holmes

By Addison Smith

PITTSBURG, Kansas—Rural communities such as Pittsburg offer lots of resources and programs to help aid unhoused individuals—except to those who are felons.

According to data collected by organizations throughout Pittsburg, there are currently 278 clients who need assistance with finding housing.

Felons not being able to benefit from any of the funds within these programs presents a big issue. In an assessment prior to this data being collected, clients are asked, whether they have been convicted of a crime that makes it difficult to get housing. When last assessed, 43 clients said yes.

According to the Kansas law, a felony can be defined as “a crime punishable by death or by imprisonment in any state correctional institution.” In Kansas, an individual who simply possesses a controlled substance on them is susceptible to a level 5 drug felony, which can result in a maximum of 42 months in prison.

Anyone who is unhoused and has a felony faces a major obstacle when it comes to finding stable housing. The Kansas Landlord Handbook states that landlords have the right to consider a potential tenant’s criminal history.

Wesley House is a day shelter that provides food and resources to those struggling with homelessness. Kelly Pulliam, the operations manager, sees a lot of the barriers for those unhoused.

“There are problems with mental health, addiction and criminal history,” she said. “Those are the things we see over and over again with people who are harder to house.”

Because the shelter only operates in the daytime, a main goal for the Wesley House is trying to connect unhoused individuals with housing regardless of their criminal history—but there’s only so much that can be done for those with felonies.

“Trying to get them associated with housing programs is the main goal—and breaking down barriers,” Pulliam said. “[We try] to help sort through their background—if they’ve had evictions or if they’ve got a criminal history in their background—and just try to work through that and figure out which program they would best be suited for,” she said.

While there are many factors these individuals would attribute to their homelessness, a common obstacle is access to stable housing. Quentin Holmes, the community development and housing director for the city of Pittsburg, works closely with the homeless population in Pittsburg in an effort to offer help to those willing to accept it. He said the city has tried in the past to help the homeless population with three months of rent to help them get back on their feet and received funding, but long-term results have not played out how they’ve expected.

“The issue that we’ve seen over and over again is after three months, they don’t have a job,” Holmes said. “If they’re felons, they do not qualify for subsidized housing, therefore, they have no income to pay, so then what we run into is landlords upset with us and the tenant.”

Lisa Niegsch, a registered nurse at Crawford County Mental Health Center, has seen the challenges these unhoused individuals are facing.

“A lot of these [landlords] are picky–which is their right to do—but it complicates things,” she said. “We have several people homeless right now that landlords won’t rent to because of their past history,” she said.

Organizations like Wesley House and Crawford County Mental Health continue to do as much as they can to help all individuals facing homelessness—including those with felonies.

“Housing really needs to come first,” Holmes said. “They need a safe place to go at night, whether that be in a shelter or whether it be in a home or whatever it is, they need that security.”

Pittsburg once had an overnight shelter for those facing these issues, however ultimately shut its door due to the high expenses they were facing. Without this shelter, unhoused felons continue to struggle to find stable housing—ultimately preventing them from getting out of this perpetual cycle of homelessness.