03/12/04

The dispute between the city of Birmingham and a Woodlawn halfway house is unfortunate, for sure. No one wants to see prison parolees abruptly uprooted from their homes when they're just starting to get their lives together.

But the story about the city pulling the plug on Neighborhood House highlighted a far bigger problem: The state isn't regulating this halfway house or many others that will shelter a growing number of parolees from Alabama's prisons.

"There is no oversight of halfway houses," said Cynthia Dillard, assistant executive director of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. "Anybody can throw up a shingle and say they're a halfway house, and most of them are for profit."

Neighborhood House says it's not about the profits. Indeed, it's being shut down by the city not because of any particular problem with its business, but because the property was supposed to go to another buyer under a federal program to provide low-income housing.

But details that emerged about the Neighborhood House operation still raise questions. At its 32-unit complex on Second Avenue North, a single apartment houses four parolees, each of whom is supposed to pay $90 a week. That gives Neighborhood House $1,440-a-month rent for a single apartment - far above the going rate in Woodlawn and every other market in Birmingham.

Operators of Neighborhood House say the figure is misleading, and not just because residents sometimes fall behind on their rent. While residents have to pay an extra $4 a day for transportation, their rent covers utilities and a number of other services - such as counseling, referrals and property maintenance.

Still, the price is awfully steep for residents who have nothing. Even if Neighborhood House has the best of intentions, it's clear that an unscrupulous halfway house operator could take advantage of parolees who are under the gun to maintain stability and may have few other places to go.

A bill in the Legislature doesn't go far enough to provide oversight to halfway houses. But it would at least require all halfway houses to get a license from a local sheriff and go through a public hearing before opening for business.

Currently, halfway houses are governed, if at all, by scattered local rules. In Birmingham, for instance, halfway houses get health inspections as communal living facilities, Dillard said.

That's not enough. Nor is it enough that the parole board can refuse to send parolees to halfway houses that generate complaints or for some reason don't measure up. Look at the Neighborhood House: The parole board wasn't aware of problems there, despite the high rents being charged, despite the property dispute that ended with parolees' sudden eviction.

An agency needs staff, resources and authority to establish and enforce rules for halfway houses. The parole board says it's in no shape to take on a new responsibility, and you can be sure no other strapped agency is eager to take on the task.

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