What is an Oxford House? Oxford House Recovery Homes

The average length of jail time is about one year, with a range of few days to more than ten years. This is understandable since as many as 80% of the current jail/prison population are alcoholics and drug addicts. Oxford Houses seem to stop the recycling in and out of jail or treatment facilities. 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.

Q. Are there Oxford Houses set up for special populations?

• 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.
• Today, they have become the norm for the thirty-nine states and two hundred-nineteen cities in which Oxford House operates.
• While the article was published a few months before the Supreme Court decided City of Edmonds, WA v. Oxford House, Inc., the Court’s decision is consistent with the reasoning and conclusions of Schonfeld and Stein.
• Each individual group is given an Oxford House Charter which makes it a part of the network of Oxford House recovery houses.

The application is then considered by the membership of the House and if there is a vacancy and if 80% of the members approve, the applicant is accepted and moves in. If an applicant does not get voted into one house he or she should try another house in the area. The Oxford House website contains an application and information about How to Apply to live in an Oxford House. That would defeat the whole principle of establishing a system that teaches recovering individuals themselves to be responsible. However, it does the next best thing by utilizing and enforcing its charter concept. In its simplest form, an Oxford House describes a democratically run, self-supporting and drug free home.

Q. What is an Oxford House Charter?

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. (Since 1989, many new Oxford Houses have taken advantage of state revolving loan programs.

Q. How did Oxford House get started?

Each individual recovers from alcoholism or drug addiction at a different pace. All too often, an abrupt transition from a protected environment to an environment which places considerable glamour on the use of alcohol and drugs causes a return to alcoholic drinking or addictive drug use. Oxford House Inc., is a non-profit, tax exempt, publicly supported corporation which acts as a umbrella organization for the national network of Oxford Houses. It provides quality control by organizing regional Houses into Chapters and by relying oxford house sober living heavily upon the national network of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups. 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. In most communities, the members of those organizations help Oxford Houses get started and report any charter compliance problems to the national office of Oxford House World Services with respect to a particular house.

Q. How many individuals lived in an Oxford House during 2010?

Each Oxford House member, as an individual, considers himself a member of AA and/or NA. While research on AA has been limited by the role of anonymity in recovery, the willingness of the Oxford Houses to open their doors to academic research gives us an opportunity to see recovery from addiction in action. Generally an individual comes into an Oxford House following a 28-day rehabilitation program or at least a 5 to10-day detoxification program. Oxford House, Inc., keeps in touch with the members of each house on a regular basis. This involves weekly reports, periodic phone calls and the maintenance of continuous contact to keep track of vacancies and assure financial responsibility.

The leases are exactly the same as a lease to a single family but with certain important distinctions. While no one is ever asked to leave an Oxford House without cause, some individuals will simply outgrow living in an Oxford House. They will return to their families; they may start new families; they may simply move into another living situation. The situation should be avoided whereby certain individuals will begin to equate their persuasive qualities with the Oxford House concept. It is inconsistent with the Oxford House system of democratic rule to have a professional manager of Oxford House.

• Once that’s received by the house, you’ll be interviewed by the house members.
• Since Oxford Houses are self-supported, they are the most cost-effective way to deal with recovery from alcoholism, drug addiction and co-occurring mental illness.
• For example, courts have sustained the position that insurance companies cannot charge landlords more for comprehensive insurance when the landlord is renting property to handicapped individuals.
• All too often, an abrupt transition from a protected environment to an environment which places considerable glamour on the use of alcohol and drugs causes a return to alcoholic drinking or addictive drug use.
• The degree to which we were able to successfully change our lives had a direct relationship to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
• These homes offer individuals a safe and secure place to live where they can learn responsibility, gain recovery support, and learn to live a sober life.

Q. Don’t zoning laws limit where a group of unrelated individuals can rent a house?

The reason that each Oxford House is independent arises from the very practical consideration that those who are closest to a situation are best able to manage it. If an Oxford House follows the democratic principles and traditions of Oxford House, Inc., it should have no difficulty in running smoothly. Those democratic principles will also enable the members of a particular Oxford House to take pride in their new found responsibility. By running Oxford House on a democratic basis, members of Oxford House become able to accept the authority of the group because the group is a peer group. Each member has an equal voice in the group and each has an opportunity to relearn responsibility and to accept decisions once they are made. Equal Expense Shared (EES) is generally between 80 and 160 dollars a week and includes utilities.

• Yes, because alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness are handicapping conditions.
• As a general rule formal AA or NA meetings are not held in an Oxford House member who has maintained comfortable sobriety in an Oxford House makes it a practice to attend a lot of AA and/or NA meetings on a regular basis.
• If the individual is a signatory to the lease the immediate eviction becomes difficult, if not impossible, because of local landlord-tenant rights.
• Second, an Oxford House must follow the democratic principles in running the house.
• The Wai Case settled the fact that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are subject to the nondiscrimination provisions of both FFHA and ADA whether such discrimination is from the state or private entities.

Business meetings

• Each member has one vote and majority rule applies except that 80% of the members must agree in accepting new persons for membership.
• Some are able to keep from drinking in spite of the loneliness with which they were faced.
• Each Oxford House is an ordinary single-family house with two bathrooms and four or more bedrooms.
• Loneliness and self-pity soon lead such individuals back to alcoholic drinking or drug use.
• Oxford House works because an individual resident who returns to using alcohol or drugs–in or outside of the house–must be immediately expelled from the house.

John Stanton, one of the Washington, DC attorneys handling that case, has written a law review article covering the entire matter of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, as amended, and the rights of disabled individuals. During our drinking and drug use years, and even before, many of us found it difficult to accept authority. Many individuals in society are able to abide by the strict letter of any rule, regulation , or law. Alcoholics and drug addicts seem to have a tendency to test and retest the validity of any real, potential, or imagined restriction on their behavior. Yes, there are Oxford Houses in Canada, Australia and Ghana with active interest in England, Bulgaria and other countries. Alcoholism and drug addiction are international problems and Oxford Houses can provide recovering individuals the opportunity to become comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapse.

Q. Can both men and women live in the same Oxford House?