The Purpose and Structure of Oxford HousePurposeOxford House is a concept in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. In its simplest form, an Oxford House describes a democratically run, self-supporting and drug free home. Parallel to this concept lies the organizational structure of Oxford House, Inc. This publicly supported, non-profit 501(c)3 corporation is the umbrella organization which provides the network connecting all Oxford Houses and allocates resources to duplicate the Oxford House concept where needs arise.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. Each House represents a remarkably effective and low cost method of preventing relapse. This was the purpose of the first Oxford House established in 1975, and this purpose is served, day by day, house after house, in each of over 1,200 houses in the United States today. StructureThe Oxford House Network:A Self-Run Structure Three or more Oxford Houses within a 100 mile radius comprise an Oxford House Chapter. A representative of each House in the Chapter meets with the others on a monthly basis, to exchange information, to seek resolution of problems in a particular House, and to express that Chapter's vote on larger issues. The World Council is comprised of 12 members: 9 of which presently live in an Oxford House, and 3 alumni. Members are elected each year at the Oxford House World Convention. The primary mission of the Oxford House World Council is to facilitate adherence to Oxford House Traditions' concept and system of operations, by providing effective means of communication and mission focus between the various organizational structures of Oxford House as a whole. In carrying out its mission the Council always keeps a focus on expansion of the network of individual Oxford Houses, to provide all recovering alcoholics and drug addictions the opportunity to develop comfortable sobriety without relapse. The Board of Directors maintains the sole right to Charter, and to revoke the Charter of, individual Oxford Houses and exercises authority over the policies and officers of Oxford House, Inc. In this way, Oxford House, Inc. remains responsive to the needs of the population it serves. Questions and AnswersQ. What is an Oxford House? Oxford House is a self-run, self-supported recovery house concept and system of operation for individuals recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction. Oxford Houses assure an alcohol and drug-free living environment. The first Oxford House was started in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1975.Q. Who manages an Oxford House? Oxford Houses are democratically self-run by the residents who elect officers to serve for terms of six months. In this respect, they are similar to a college fraternity or sorority. However, if a majority of residents believe that any member has relapsed into using alcohol or drugs, that person is immediately expelled. There are no resident counselors in an Oxford House.Q. How long can anyone live in an Oxford House? A recovering individual can live in an Oxford House for as long as he or she does not drink alcohol, does not use drugs, and pays an equal share of the house expenses. The average stay is about a year, but many residents stay three, four, or more years. There is no pressure on anyone in good standing to leave.Q. Why is Oxford House self-run? Oxford Houses are self-run because (1) this permits individuals in recovery to learn responsibility, and (2) the lower cost associated with self-run housing permits extensive replication of houses. Each House is fully responsible for its own expenses and debts which will not and cannot be assumed by the National Organization of Oxford Houses.Q. How can one get into an Oxford House? Q. What if there is not an Oxford House in the area or there are no vacancies in any Oxford House in the region? Any Group of recovering individuals can start a new Oxford House. All they need to do is to find a house to rent in the name of the Group, and apply to Oxford House, Inc., for a charter. The house must be able to accomodate at least six residents.Q. Is there any financial aid available to start a new Oxford House? Yes, some states have in place a revolving loan fund that can make loans to cover the first month's rent and security deposit (up to $4000) to rent a house in a good neighborhood. If a state has a revolving recovery home start-up loan fund, the group must repay the loan within two years in 24 installments. Check the Single State Director list to get a telephone number or an email address for your state's substance abuse office and ask them if a loan fund is available. If it is not available groups can pool resources to come up with the first month's rent on a house and security deposit or find a local source such as a church, foundation, business or treatment provider for a start-up loan. Historically, all kinds of funding sources have help to start new Oxford Houses. The first Oxford House was started because a member of AA loaned the men $750 for the first month's rent. Repayment of the first loans in an area makes loans to start future houses possible. A good reputation builds confidence.Q. Can the new house become affiliated with Oxford House? Yes, by simply writing or calling Oxford House to ask for a Charter application. Once that application is completed and received by Oxford House, Inc., a "Conditional Charter" will be granted to the house at no cost. A “Permanent Charter” is granted once the group demonstrates that it understands and is following the Oxford House system of operation. It is also granted free of charge.Q. Can an Oxford House be started without a loan from the state? Yes, the prospective residents of the House can find a suitable house, rent it, put up the security deposit and pay the first month's rent themselves. Oxford House, Inc. will consider favorably a Charter application whether or not a loan is received from the State or some other outside source.Q. Can both men and women live in the same Oxford House? No. Experience has shown that Oxford Houses work for both men and women, but not in the same house.Q. What is the "ideal" number of individuals to make a self-run, self-supported recovery house work well? 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.Q. How much sobriety or clean time is needed before an individual can be accepted into an Oxford House? There is no time limit. Generally an individual comes into an Oxford House following a 28-day rehabilitation program or at least 10-day detoxification program.Q. What is Oxford House Inc.? 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 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. As soon as Oxford House Inc., hears of such problems, it takes corrective action because the good name of Oxford House is an important factor in the recovery of thousands of individuals.
History and Accomplishments1975 through 1988 The first Oxford House was established in 1975 in Silver Spring, Maryland. From the beginning the group rejected ownership of any property and continues to rent – not purchase – single-family houses in good neighborhoods to establish new Oxford Houses. In the years between 1975 and 1988, eighteen Houses were established by and for recovering individuals. The principles of replication and guidelines for running a group home for recovering alcoholics and substance abusers embodied in the Oxford House Manual had become institutionalized in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area and in 1987 a house for ten men was rented in Bethlehem, PA. 1988: The Federal Anti-Drug Abuse ActIn 1988, Congress enacted P.L. 100-690, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. This Act included a provision that required all states to establish a revolving loan fund to provide start-up funds for groups wishing to open sober living environments based on the Oxford House model. The mandate was changed to a permissive provision in 1990 and is now codified as 42 USC 300x-25 . To determine if a particular state has a current recovery home revolving loan fund, click the Single State Director List and contact the agency. Such loans of $4,000 pay the first month's rent and security deposit and thereby accelerate the rate at which individual recovering people can find affordable housing. Repayment is made monthly for 24 months so that others can benefit from the same kind of loan. 1989: Implementation of Effective OutreachThe availability of start-up loans for groups of six or more recovering individuals to rent an ordinary single-family house to start an Oxford House was a necessary but not sufficient incentive for expanding the small network of Oxford Houses. It immediately became clear that it is necessary to teach residents in new self-run, self-supported Oxford Houses the system of operations that had made the early Oxford Houses successful. Therefore, Oxford House World Services was established in 1989 to train experienced Oxford House residents to be teachers of the system of operations spelled out in the Oxford House Manual©. Many states provided grants to cover the expenses of World Services to train and supervise “outreach workers” to carry their expertise to newly recovering individuals to start and maintain self-run, self-supported recovery homes. The combination of state grants, individual contributions and foundation grants permitted the establishment of an effective World Services Office within a short period of time. From the outset, the World Services Office developed expertise in four specific areas: • Training and supervision of outreach workers • Management of revolving loan fund • Legal protection of civil rights under the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act • Development of an infra-structure to enable all Oxford Houses to work together to assure applied research, orderly expansion and quality control On November 12, 1989 the Washington Post Magazine published an article by their staff writer Peter Carlson entitled The Oxford House Experiment . The Post article captures the early to expand the number of Oxford Houses as encouraged by the recovery home section of the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act. 1990 through 1996 — Validation of Expansion A number of states including Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii entered into grant agreements with Oxford House World Service to introduce Oxford Houses to their respective states. By 1991, when the CBS program “60 Minutes” did a favorable ten-minute segment about Oxford House, there were 256 Oxford Houses throughout the country. The immediate effect of this program was to increase interest and demand for more Oxford Houses. In the seven years between 1989 and 1996 the accomplishments of Oxford House World Services included: • Website: www.oxfordhouse.org established • An increase in houses from 18 to over 600 • An increase in states served from 3 to 41 • An increase in total recovery beds from 145 to over 4,954 • Women's Houses increased from 3 to 110 • Women's Houses that accept women with children increased from 1 to 18 • Communities served increased from 3 to 253 • Average rate of relapse maintained at less than 20% of all residents. Moreover, Oxford House World Services supervised legal actions throughout the country to resolve civil rights with respect to zoning restrictions and the NIMBY problem. In 1995, the United States Supreme Court considered the rights of recovering individuals to rent houses in areas zoned for single-family residence. In its decision in City of Edmonds, WA v. Oxford House, Inc. 514 US 725 (May 15, 1995), the U.S. Supreme Court found that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are protected under the Federal Fair Housing Act as handicapped individuals and local governments must make reasonable accommodations in their local zoning law restrictions. This case laid the foundation for a number of other cases where courts have prohibited discrimination against recovering individuals living together for the purpose of becoming comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapse. Key cases include: • Wai and Oxford House, Inc. v. Allstate Insurance Company , et. al. 75 F. Supp. 2d 1, (DDC, 1999) – prohibiting homeowner insurance companies from charging landlords more than if they were renting to a family; • Tsombanidis, and Oxford House, Inc. v. City of West Haven , Connecticut 180 F. Supp. 262 (CT. 2001) – prohibiting localities from applying fire safety requirements not applicable to biological families in similar rentals. 1996 to 2010 — Oxford house Comes of Age In 1997, the men and women of Oxford House restructured Oxford House, Inc. – the national 501(c)(3) nonprofit umbrella organization by creating an independent Board of Directors and World Council elected from residents and alumni around the country. This enabled the national board to recruit experienced outside Directors to compliment the residents and alumni making up the democratic self-run organization. The Chairperson of the elected World Council is an ex-officio member of the board to assure close coordination between the grassroots democratic policy making of Oxford House, as a whole, and the organized expansion of the Oxford House movement. During the period between 1997 and 2007, Oxford House continued to grow and thousands of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts demonstrated that recovery without relapse could become the norm rather than the exception. In some states, the start-up revolving loan fund has turned over many times enabling the development of strong statewide networks of Oxford Houses. For example, in Washington State the original $100,000 start-up loan fund has loaned out more than $700,000 as houses repaid their loans. The money is used over and over again with the result that the state has 179 houses with 1,464 recovery beds. To sustain growth and to assure that all houses stay on track, Oxford House World Services organize houses into mutually supportive local chapters and state associations – all democratically self-run and self-supported. Moreover, in 1999, Oxford House held its first annual World Convention where residents and alumni meet every year to learn more about addiction and the ways and means to expand the number of Oxford Houses. Highlights during the period include: • American Psychological Association awards Oxford House, Inc. the 2003 Harry V. McNeill Award for Effective Community Service • DePaul University [NIDA/NIAAA funded] studies show remarkable rates of recovery without relapse–over 80%. Associated Press Story August 18, 2005 • President's 2006 Drug Strategy Message features Oxford House as a model program for recovery without relapse. • 1999 Washington, D.C. First Annual Convention. 320 residents and alumni attend. Theme: If Not Us Who? • 2000 Kansas City, MO. Second Annual Convention. 340 residents and alumni attend. Theme: Recovery Without Relapse. • 2001 Washington, DC. Third Annual Convention. 380 residents and alumni attend. Theme: If Not Now, When? • 2002 Seattle, WA. Fourth Annual Convention, 420 residents and alumni attend. Theme: Changing the Culture of Recovery. • 2003 Washington, DC. Fifth Annual Convention. 415 residents and alumni attend. Theme: Recovery, Responsibility, and Replication. • 2004 San Antonio, TX. Sixth Annual Convention. 390 residents and alumni attend. Theme: Back to Basics. • 2005 Alexandria, VA. Seventh Annual Convention. 400 residents and alumni attend. Theme: Family, Fellowship, and Freedom. • 2006 Wichita, KS. Eighth Annual Convention; Program includes 26 stories of success . 460 residents and alumni attend. Theme: Oxford House Comes of Age. • 2007 Washington, DC. Ninth Annual Convention; Program includes 18 stories of success . 530 residents and alumni attend. Theme: Oxford House – What If? • 2008 New Orleans, LA Tenth Annual Convention; Program includes 18 stories of success . 580 residents and alumni attended. Theme: Oxford House – Time for Recovery. • 2009 Washington, DC. Eleventh Annual Convention . 686 residents and alumni attended. Theme: Oxford House - Together We Can. • Over 1,200 self-sustaining sober houses utilizing the Oxford House model. • More than 10,000 individuals in recovery living in houses at any one time during a year; with more than 24,000 living in an Oxford House during course of the year.
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