Transitional Housing to Welcome Home Those With Nowhere Else To Go

This is our ultimate mission: to provide safe, supportive, and dignified reentry housing for long-interned men and women returning home from prison. 

In Delaware, a lack of adequate housing causes unjust delays in release, keeping people incarcerated simply because they have nowhere to go. At The New Leaf Initiative Fund (TNLIF), we are building our coffers now to lease our first property—a single-family home that can serve as transitional housing for up to five returning citizens. For the first six months, TNLIF will cover the lease while our case management team works closely with residents to help them secure income, benefits, and stability. After this initial transition period, residents will contribute toward the rent through modest program fees, helping sustain the property and expand our reach. Each participant will receive individualized support, including trauma-informed care, workforce development, and assistance in securing long-term housing solutions. As our residents move on to permanent housing, they will free up bed space so that others serving overlong prison sentences can finally come home. Guided by lived experience and expertise in social work, case management, and real estate development, TNLIF also seeks to partner with for-profit developers to renovate Delaware’s abandoned and distressed housing stock and convert it into dignified homes for returning citizens. Through this model, we will build a sustainable and just reentry infrastructure—one home, one life, and one second chance at a time.