High rates of imprisonment among American fathers, particularly in urban and minority
communities, have motivated an ongoing examination of incarceration’s role in family life. A
growing literature suggests that incarceration creates material and socioemotional challenges not only for prisoners and former prisoners, but also for their families and communities. We examine the effects of fathers’ incarceration on one such challenge: the housing insecurity of the mothers of their children. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=4,125) and a series of longitudinal regression models, we find that mothers’ housing security is compromised by their partners’ incarceration, an effect driven in part by financial challenges following his time in prison or jail. Given the importance of stable housing for the continuity of adult employment, children’s schooling, and other inputs to healthy child development, our findings suggest a grave threat to the wellbeing of children with incarcerated fathers.