The Pulse is SaltWire's deep dive series. In P.E.I., our reporters have been delving into the issue of housing. We have looked at housing supply, construction challenges, urban planning, and the experiences of those struggling to find homes. The coverage aims to highlight gaps and solutions to ensure affordable housing for all residents.
"They're people who have issues. But rather than leaving them on the streets or locking them up in jail, if we can all realize that providing them with supports and services is going to prevent them from reoffending prevent them from going back to jail, it's going to be a step on the road to making them fully reintegrated, rehabilitated contributing members of our society. I think that's the biggest change that I hope for is a change in attitude.
"As good as their intentions are to want to change and live a better life, if they don't have anyone in their immediate network who is helping them do that, then they can get back into old habits. And then, addictions, mental health, and criminality can re-arise and cause problems that way," said Mullin.The John Howard Society works with inmates on a variety of issues prior to being released, such as finding employment and applying for social assistance and housing.
"I think society and the inmates being released are safer if that reintroduction into the community is done in this supervised step-by-step way so that eventually this person is able to reintegrate into the community in a way that their risk of re-offending is much, much lower than it would be if it was just, 'OK, you're out of jail, now go back to where you came from,' with no plan, no programming, nothing," Mullin said.
"That kind of transitional housing can be very important for people being released from custody. And, it was quite a few years ago and there was really significant community pushback on that," Mullin said, referring to the 2022 Summerside application.