Housing as a Pathway to Justice: Landscape Analysis of the City of Atlanta

Disrupting the cycle between homelessness and criminal legal system involvement starts with improving access to housing. HR&A conducted research for Enterprise Community Partners Southeast’s Housing as a Pathway to Justice effort in Atlanta, mapping seven critical inflection points and recommending strategies for Enterprise to leverage its position as developer, convener, and policy expert.

People experiencing homelessness often face arrests for low-level survival activities that can create further barriers to housing and employment, perpetuating a cycle where criminal legal system involvement makes stability harder to achieve. Enterprise Community Partners Southeast engaged HR&A to study this dynamic in Atlanta as part of their nationwide Housing as a Pathway to Justice effort. HR&A conducted a literature review mapping the cycle of homelessness and correctional control, identifying seven critical inflection points where unhoused residents become more likely to enter the criminal legal system and where system-involved residents become more likely to experience homelessness.

We conducted in-depth interviews with organizations working at these inflection points—offering diversion programs, producing permanent supportive housing, providing dedicated housing for youth aging out of foster care, and other interventions—to identify existing bottlenecks and opportunities. This research revealed where Enterprise could most effectively build on existing efforts. HR&A delivered recommendations for Enterprise to leverage its unique position as regional convener, developer, and housing policy expert to disrupt the cycle. Our work positioned Enterprise to advance housing-based solutions that break the pattern of criminalization while strengthening Atlanta’s ecosystem of organizations working to support vulnerable residents.

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Housing as a Pathway to Justice Landscape Analysis of the City of Atlanta