Staying with family or friends

Here are some pros and cons to consider if you want to move in with family or friends.

PROS

CONS

If you have friends or family in the area, staying short-term with them can be an option for immediate housing.

Friends and family can be supportive and useful in helping you successfully reenter the community.

A few days or weeks on someone’s couch or in their spare bedroom can give you enough time to go to get social services, start looking for jobs, and arrange for longer term housing.

You will likely have greater independence in your life.

It will be free or at a lower cost because you are splitting the rent.

If you are under supervision after your release, your housing will need to be approved by your probation/parole officer or supervising agency.

Home visits by parole/probation officers, search conditions, and other restrictions don’t just affect you; they also affect your host and other household members. (SEE CHAPTER ON PAROLE & PROBATION, PG. 157).

If you are a guest in someone’s home or apartment, your stay could cause the family living there to violate the property’s guest policy if you stay beyond the time limit allowed for guests and/or you violate some other rule in the property’s guest policy (see more on PG. 388).