Imprisonment - even for minor crimes - appears to lead to homelessness, a survey of Baltimore's homeless population has found.

The survey by the Center for Poverty Solutions found that of 324 people questioned who had been jailed at some point, 63 percent owned or rented homes before their incarceration. Only 30 percent had permanent housing after being released from prison or jail.

The survey also found that those who were homeless were often locked up because of it. A third of the crimes for which they had been jailed were related to homelessness, such as aggressive panhandling, sleeping in public or loitering. Seventy-nine percent of the crimes for which those responding had been jailed were nonviolent.

Forty-four percent of those who had been jailed reported they received no help in finding housing or a job before their release, and 67 percent said they received no help afterward.

The survey was funded by the Open Society Institute-Baltimore.