No matter where on your journey – considering sobriety, living sober for years or months already – our newsletter is here as a guide with helpful resources, events, and more. Some facilities require a minimum number of days of sobriety from substance abuse, but many will work with you to determine if you’re a good fit. The amount of time you’ll stay at a halfway house varies, but most stays are between three to twelve months. This gives you enough time to get back on your feet, secure a steady job, and feel strong in your sobriety. Some transitional housing facilities accept credit card payments or offer in-house financing. These media reports are too often the only way we are able to retrieve public information about the internal conditions of halfway houses.

Every year, tens of thousands spend time in halfway houses

• In the now-defunct Hope Village in Washington, D.C., residents reported packed dining halls, makeshift PPE, and restricted access to cleaning products and sanitation supplies.
• This level of community engagement helps dispel myths and misconceptions about halfway houses and the individuals who reside in them.
• If you’re thinking about entering a sober living home and want to know if insurance covers it, it’s best to contact your insurance company directly.
• Halfway houses provide more freedom to residents than inpatient treatment programs.
• Amanda Stevens is a highly respected figure in the field of medical content writing, with a specific focus on eating disorders and addiction treatment.
• They adapted to serve the role of alternatives to incarceration, and in this capacity they were known as “halfway-in houses.” In the 1990s the term halfway house was replaced by the more benign, descriptive, and inclusive residential treatment centers.
• This means that you’ve already completed detoxing from whatever your addiction was and are now in the early stages of sobriety.

They are termed “halfway houses” due to their being halfway between completely independent living and in-patient or carceral facilities, where residents are highly restricted in their behavior and freedoms. Most states do not release comprehensive policy on their contracted halfway houses. From states like Minnesota, we are able to see that the carceral conditions in federal RRCs are what is a halfway house often mirrored in the state system. For the most part, people go to halfway houses because it is a mandatory condition of their release from prison.

How Much Does Halfway Housing Cost?

Organizations like Avenues NYC work to address these challenges by being transparent about their operations and involving the community in their mission. Through outreach and education, they aim to build trust and create a more inclusive environment for both residents and community members. For example, Avenues NYC promotes volunteerism among its residents, encouraging them to give back to the communities that have supported their reintegration.

Employment and Life Skills

• Some people may also go to halfway houses without it being required, simply because the facility provides housing.
• However, with jails and prisons becoming increasingly crowded, halfway house programs demonstrated remarkable functional flexibility.
• Moreover, many halfway houses require residents to adhere to strict rules, including curfews, random drug testing, and attendance at therapeutic or support meetings.
• For example, Avenues NYC promotes volunteerism among its residents, encouraging them to give back to the communities that have supported their reintegration.
• Because if there’s one thing more haunting than millions of addiction deaths, it’s knowing they’re preventable.

These measures ensure that residents are staying focused on their rehabilitation and significantly reduce the risk of criminal activity. Since sober living typically follows addiction treatment, getting a referral from the treatment provider is recommended. Other referral sources may include the criminal justice system, a mental health professional, Twelve Step meeting participants, or friends and family. Whatever the source of the referral, take a tour of the facility and talk to the people living there to decide if it’s the right fit for you.

The purpose of a halfway house is to provide transitional housing for people who need it most. The focus was to separate the user from their previous substance-abusing environment so that they could recover in a sober, supportive environment. The Recovery Village aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with a substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals.

In addition, a stay in a recovery house might be a partial requirement of a criminal sentence. In some instances, rehab facilities may refer a patient to a halfway house following treatment. Similarly, court-mandated treatment centers and/or the court may recommend or mandate that someone stay in a halfway house.12 Other times, residents seek out halfway houses of their own accord. In the long term, halfway houses contribute to the development of more resilient and compassionate communities.