Finding and securing affordable housing is a problem for prospective renters in communities nationwide, including Eugene.

It's even more difficult for people with criminal records.

"Those are the folks that are among the most marginalized in our community," said Jacob Fox, executive director of Homes for Good, which serves as Lane County's low-income housing agency.

Housing provides stability, and with that in mind, Homes for Good is partnering with Sponsors, Inc. — a Eugene-based nonprofit that provides housing and other re-entry services to people leaving prison — and Lane County Parole and Probation on a project that aims to keep ex-criminals housed and crime-free.

Over the next five years, evaluators will track the progress of former inmates living in 100 local, rental housing units where case management and supportive services are available.

More than half of those units are at The Oaks at 14th, a complex on Oak Patch Road in west Eugene that opened last year and is operated by Sponsors. The remainder includes public housing and private market units subsidized with housing vouchers.

If it is shown that the program works to reduce recidivism and homelessness — while also demonstrating that tenants are appropriately using health care services rather than relying on emergency care — the state would be expected to provide what's known as "success-based payments" to keep the program running.

It's the first program of its kind launched in Oregon, Sponsors Executive Director Paul Solomon said.

"There should be programs like this in every county," Solomon said. He pointed out that reducing recidivism works to save counties and states money related to incarcerating people who commit crimes after being released from jails and prisons.

Sponsors and Homes for Good worked with the county's parole and probation office to secure a $1.3 million grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016, to get the program off the ground.

It was one of seven such federal grants awarded to communities across the country. Lane County is the least-populated area among the recipients. Solomon said he believes that's a reflection of the strength of partnerships among the agencies that pursued the grant and also to Sponsors' success in helping to keep its clients from returning to prison.

According to data provided by Sponsors, adults in Lane County who authorities consider a medium- to high-risk of committing crimes and who are homeless after serving prison time have a 33 percent likelihood of re-incarceration due to a felony conviction within three years. Authorities say unstable housing factors into that outcome, and also contributes to increased rates of hospital emergency room visits and inpatient stays.

Sponsors, however, has a track record of lowering recidivism since it was founded in 1973. People released from prison who live in Sponsors' long-term housing units have a 13 percent recidivism rate, according to information provided by the agency.

Over the next five years, the program's progress and impact will be measured by researchers at the University of Oregon and New York University, which shares its results with Sponsors on a quarterly basis.

Officials involved in the project say it counts as part of Lane County's plan to add 600 units of housing for the homeless population by 2021.

Homelessness and recidivism are linked. National data shows that nearly 50,000 people a year enter homeless shelters immediately after being released from prisons and jails in the U.S., according to a 2016 report issued by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The report notes that housing provides ex-criminals a "consistent base" from which they can seek and access jobs, health services and other supports. People with criminal records who do not have homes can end up caught in what the report calls "a revolving door" between homelessness and incarceration.