With passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, expansion of Oxford Houses exploded. During the early 1990s dozens of communities sought to close Oxford Houses located in good neighborhoods because local zoning ordinances restricted the number of unrelated individuals that could live together in a single-family home. There is no official minimum time limit for acceptance, but generally an individual comes into an Oxford House following a 14 to 28 day rehabilitation program, or at least a detoxification period. Learn what makes Oxford House stand out as a unique model for recovery housing. The World Council is made up of both alumni and residents of Oxford Houses who are elected by their peers. Electing members to staggered three-year terms of office assures continuity of the 12-member World Council.

The Oxford House Model provides a community based, supportive, and sober living environment.

Mr. Molloy and the other residents devised the basic rules of self-government that have shaped Oxford House ever since. Second, every resident would contribute equally to the expenses and household duties. In its simplest form, an Oxford House is a shared residence where people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction can live together and support each other in a drug and alcohol-free environment. 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 the two groups of houses, including sense of community among residents, neighborhood or policy characteristics, and house age.

What Are Sober Living Homes?

Experience of Oxford House has shown that from 8 to 15 members works very well. Oxford House will not charter a house with fewer than six individuals because experience has shown that it takes at least six individuals to form an effective group. The average number of times an Oxford House resident has been through prior treatment is three, but for about a quarter of residents their Oxford House residency is after their first treatment episode. The OHI field staff travel to Oxford what is an oxford house Houses, Chapters, and Associations to provide technical assistance and training, assist with expansion, and network in the community.

Who Starts and Manages Oxford Houses?

• In its simplest form, an Oxford House is a shared residence where people in recovery from substance use disorder can live together and support each other in a drug and alcohol-free environment.
• A city-run Global Information Systems (GIS) website was used to gather crime data including assault, arson, burglary, larceny, robbery, sexual assault, homicide, and vehicle theft over a calendar year.
• Oxford Houses are a community-based, mutual-help residential community where participants seeking recovery from substance use disorders must obtain jobs, pay utility bills, and refrain from disruptive behavior.
• Oxford Houses are self-run, democratic sober living homes for individuals recovering from alcohol and drug addiction.
• In 1987, the late Bill Spillane, Ph. D., who had retired from NIDA and was teaching at Catholic University School of Social Work in Washington, D.C.
• Sober living facilities are vital stepping stones for individuals in recovery from substance use or those who have completed residential treatment.

Oxford Houses typically operate by housing same-sex residents, ensuring that individuals reside with others who share similar experiences and recovery goals. In its simplest form, an Oxford House describes a democratically run, self-supporting and drug free home. Rent and the various utilities paid by residents vary by location, but the cost of living in an Oxford House is usually no more than what it would cost to live elsewhere. Plus, this option may actually be cheaper than other housing environments given the fact that residents split the household costs among several residents. We were also interested in exploring whether rates of crime increased in locations where there were Oxford Houses.

Halfway Houses

• The Oxford House Model is the unique, time-tested system of operations; an evidence-based practice shown to bring significant results currently unmatched in the recovery space.
• Once you find a house that has a vacancy, you can call the contact person to set up an interview.
• The concept and the standardized, democratic, self-supported Oxford House system of operations itself are far more persuasive than any individual.
• There are over 3500 self-sustaining Oxford Houses in the United States and more than 24,000 individuals in recovery living in these houses at any one time during the year.
• Any recovering alcoholic or drug addict can apply to get into any Oxford House by filling out an application and being interviewed by the existing members of the House.

These different social networks are able to provide support for abstinence to African Americans. There is no reason to believe that society as a whole had the responsibility to provide long-term housing within a protected environment for the alcoholic and drug addict. However, there is every reason to believe that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts can do for themselves that which society as a whole has no responsibility to do for them.

Comparison with Other Facilities

• Last year, we expanded our services to include robust mental health treatment, a new outpatient location, and specialized programming for our nation’s veterans, with more to come this year!
• While Oxford House is not affiliated with AA or NA, its members realize that recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction can only be assured by the changing of their lifestyle through full participation in AA and NA.
• A study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment found sober living home residents experienced improvements in arrest rates, alcohol and drug use rates, and employment rates.
• In 2007, the Oxford House organization received about $1.6 million in grants from state and local governments to pay outreach workers to develop and maintain networks of individual Oxford Houses in nine States and the District of Columbia.

These houses foster peer-supported communal living, self-governance, and self-help, allowing residents to support each other in their efforts to abstain from alcohol and substance use. Being community-based, the Oxford House Model has helped numerous individuals recover from addiction with nearly 3,000 houses in the United States and other countries. Alcoholism and substance abuse affects over 20 million Americans, and thus is the most prevalent mental disorder facing our nation (Jason, Ferrari, Davis, & Olson, 2006). Many psychologists are involved in the delivery of services to those with substance abuse addictions.

A long-running study https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/the-6-stages-of-alcoholic-recovery-timeline/ by Chicago’s DePaul University shows that people completing one year of residency maintain a sobriety rate as high as 80 percent. Each house adheres to the absolute requirement that any member who returns to using alcohol or drugs must be immediately expelled. Oxford Houses are democratically self-run by the members who elect officers to serve for terms of six months. House officers have term limits to avoid bossism or corruption of egalitarian democracy.