Oxford House, Inc. acts as the coordinating body for providing charters for the opening of new Oxford Houses. It also acts as the coordinating body to help individual houses to organize mutually supportive chapters. Through chapters individual houses are able to share their experience, strength and hope with each other to assure compliance with the Oxford House concept and its respected standardized system of operations. The number of residents in a House may range from six to fifteen; there are houses for men, houses for women, and houses which accept women with children. Oxford Houses flourish in metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington D.C. And thrive in such diverse communities as Hawaii, Washington State, Canada and Australia; but they all abide by the basic criteria. The benefit of Oxford Houses is they are a very inexpensive housing resource for people in recovery.

Equal Expense Shared is generally between 80 and 160 dollars a week and includes utilities. Weekly business meetings are mandatory to discuss any issues that the house may be facing. It is at these meetings that checks are written for bills and residents are made aware of where they stand financially. Some operate for several years and then, because of expiration of a lease, dissatisfaction with the facilities, or simply the finding of a better location, the members of a particular House will move into a new location. Other Houses often help that type of move as well as the brand new House. In both cases, financial assistance is in the form of a loan having a pay back schedule, not to exceed one year, defined up front.

Housing, Mental Health, Substance Use

All aspects of Oxford House operations, from the acquisition of the house to the acceptance or dismissal of members, is carried out under democratic procedures. Each member has one vote and majority rule applies except that 80% of the members must agree in accepting new persons for membership. Each Oxford House should be autonomous except in matters affecting other houses or Oxford House, Inc. as a whole.

In a National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism supported study, we successfully recruited 150 individuals who completed treatment at alcohol and drug abuse facilities in the Chicago metropolitan area. Over half of the individuals who participated in this study were women. Half the participants were randomly assigned to live in an Oxford House, while the other half received community-based aftercare services .

Impacts Beyond Oxford House: Community Perceptions

The ways that sober living houses work vary depending on the level of support provided. The National Alliance for Recovery Residences is one of the largest associations of sober living homes in the United States.

Results indicated a high sustainability rate (86.9%) during a six year period of time. Houses that remained open had significantly higher incomes of residents than houses that eventually closed. No other significant differences were found between what is an oxford house the two groups of houses, including sense of community among residents, neighborhood or policy characteristics, and house age. It appears that adequate house income seems to be a necessary factor for houses continuing to function over time.

Oxford House – Stainback

The lower rate of incarceration (3% versus 9%) in the study among Oxford House versus usual care participants corresponded to annualized savings for the Oxford House sample of roughly $119,000. Together, the productivity and incarceration benefits yield an estimated $613,000 in savings accruing to the Oxford House participants. Most residents at sober living homes have a private or semiprivate room. The homes usually include a kitchen, common areas and laundry accommodations. Establishing a sober lifestyle is difficult during the early stages of recovery.

• Depaul University has a team of researchers that have been studying the Oxford House model for more than a decade.
• Treatment for addiction takes many forms and depends on the needs of the individual.
• A2010 articleexamined the characteristics of the houses and participants and also reviewed two studies funded by theNational Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute of Drug Abuse .
• The right living environment will depend on an individual’s needs and goals.
• The standardized system for Oxford House has evolved since the first house opened in 1975 and has grown to over 2,865 houses and counting throughout the country.

Mortensen J, Aase D, Jason LA, Mueller D, Ferrari JR. Organizational factors related to the sustainability of recovery homes. Jason LA, Schober D, Olson BD. Community involvement among second-order change recovery homes. The present article addresses the primary outcome studies conducted on one form of recovery home called Oxford House. We also examine whether settings such as Oxford Houses have an impact on their greater community.