Claremont
Public hearings on the grant applications to help pay for the project, estimated now to cost $750,000, are planned for January, County Administrator Jessie Levine said last week in an email.
Jeff Barrette, chairman of the three-member Sullivan County Board of Commissioners, said Friday that because the county is another government entity, approval from the city is not as rigorous a process, but will be nonetheless transparent.
The residence envisioned by county officials would house up to 16 men and 8 women for a period of between three to six months but possibly as long as 12 months as they transition from jail back into the community, Barrette said.
The proposed site is at 169 Main St., which is on the corner of Elm Street near the Main Street Bridge.
Levine said the county expects to present the plans to the city’s Planning Board on Dec. 12. Abutters will receive information prior to that and will be made aware of the hearing.
“Although the county is exempt from zoning requirements, we intend to honor the public process,” Levine said in her email. “In addition, we will need to meet all building and life safety codes so the building permit process will be standard and will likely not begin until after we go through the public process and after we have a better idea of grant funding.”
Community Development Block Grants and New Hampshire Housing Special Needs are two grants identified by the county for the project. The balance of the project cost would be paid for from the county’s fund balance, pending delegation approval. But Levine said if grant funding is not awarded, it is unlikely the project would proceed.
To qualify, an inmate would have to complete the Department of Corrections TRAILS (Transitional Reentry and Inmate Life Skills) program and be ready to move to the aftercare component of TRAILS. The county can provide counseling and other services after release, but housing is the one piece of the program, often the most critical, that the county cannot provide, Barrette said.
“We have no mechanism right now to find housing,” he said.
According to Levine, the county’s recidivism rate from TRAILS is around 20 percent — half of the state average — but it is becoming increasingly difficult to transition the “sober offender back into the community,” Levine said, quoting from a presentation to the delegation in October. “It is important to note that these offenders are already returning to the community, either in their previous homes or other residences that they identify. However, these homes are not reliably sober, affordable and convenient for an offender who needs access to continued treatment and recovery support during the 12-month post-release period called “aftercare.”
The housing would only be for those in “pre-release or post-release aftercare” not open to the non-incarcerated general public.
Levine said housing “has been the biggest gap in TRAILS” and the county has been looking for a way to address that shortcoming.
“Since the first few rounds of graduation from TRAILS and transition into Aftercare, we have wanted to address housing as one means to improve rate of completion of Aftercare, because we believe that completion of Aftercare improves long-term recovery and reduces recidivism,” Levine wrote. “Although it is not scientific and we cannot point to correlation, we do know that in the last three years, offenders who did not complete Aftercare recidivated at a rate of 26 percent while the rate of those who did complete Aftercare was 9.5 percent.
Rent would be charged to those living in the units to offset some of the operational costs.
Levine said they do not anticipate a “significant operating cost impact on the county budget.”
Each unit would have a common kitchen and living area and each would have a recovery coach in residence for 24×7 supervision and support, according to the proposal. During the work day, units have at least one DOC Community Corrections Officer trained in case management and the DOC clinicians will be on site for regular aftercare counseling and treatment.
If all the approvals and grants are obtained, Barrette said, the final approval from the delegation would be sought in the spring.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
