The Osborne Association announced Thursday the launching of its kinship reentry housing program in Buffalo, marking its first expansion outside of New York City.
This program provides cash assistance, counseling, peer support and services to families welcoming loved ones home from incarceration.
“One of the things that this really addresses is the stigma of returning to the community and having to live with a family member and feeling like you're a burden on that family," Tom Diina, Chief of Community Reintegration for the Erie County Sheriff's Office, said. "So now, with this cash assistance, that reduces that stigma. Hopefully, it will create a healthier environment for the person returning and their family.”
Diina is also looking forward to seeing improvements in the system. Families will be given a $500-a-month stipend, which Osborne Buffalo Program Manager Dior Lindsay Virgil said will help support families.
“By putting the decision-making in the hands of families and offering a menu of services tailored to their needs, we can do two things at once: We can provide safe and stable housing for people returning from incarceration, and we can support families as they reunite and reconnect," Virgil said.
Diina also hopes this new program will help with Buffalo’s housing problems.
“This has long been a critical barrier for individuals returning to the community from incarceration, and it is our hope and our belief that this innovative program will help to address this issue," Diina said. "This program is also going to be a benefit to county taxpayers by increasing the odds that an individual does not return to custody; we will lower the cost of incarceration.”
Since launching in 2021, the kinship reentry program has helped over 300 families, and 100% of formerly incarcerated people do not go back to prison, Virgil said.
According to its website, 74% of Osbourne's grants, contributions, and revenue came from the government in 2025.
