As the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and North Quabbin’s third annual Sober Housing Summit came to an end Friday at noon, Sheriff Christopher Donelan suggested to Shawn Hayden that they take a ride up the Mohawk Trail sometime soon to look at old or abandoned motels that might be the answer to the lack of sober housing in Franklin County.
Hayden, chief operating officer of GAAMHA Inc., better known as Pathway House, a self-help group home in Gardner, said the task force made a lot of progress this year, but housing is still a huge barrier to people in recovery. He said sober housing is a regional problem that makes a lasting impact, and there needs to be more collaboration and a unified vision on how to solve it.
The presentation this year was about two sober housing projects that came together in two vacant motels, giving Donelan, who is a co-chair of the task force, the idea that something like that could be done in Franklin County.
Hayden introduced Rhianna Kendrick, director of operations at the Groundworks Collaborative, established in 2015 following the merger of two well-established organizations: the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center and Morningside Shelter. It provides ongoing support to families and individuals facing a full continuum of housing and hunger issues, and has created two sober housing facilities in southern Vermont.
Kendrick said the hotel/motel model was used when constructing two different sites that provide a safe place for people in recovery before they make a transition to permanent housing.
“We don’t look at it as sober housing,” she said. “It’s meant to get people into housing and then wrap support around them.”
Elizabeth Bridgewater, executive director of Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, worked with the Groundworks Collaborative on the projects.
“One of the challenges with projects like these is that there aren’t predictable, coordinated funding streams — you have to get creative,” Bridgewater explained. “It can be a complicated process to apply for funding that includes many applications and a lot of compliance.
“Also, the idea isn’t just to get people into these facilities and then leave them, but provide support as needed until they leave,” she added.
Bridgewater and Kendrick said thinking about a community space in a sober housing facility is important because it allows people to make friends and become a community, which ends up meaning they support each other.
“It’s good to deliver services in one place,” Kendrick said. “It makes it easier for people to then eventually integrate into a larger community that might not necessarily be welcoming them with open arms.”
Hayden said the Brattleboro projects are “incredible” projects that used collaboration and creativity to move forward. He said the same should happen in Franklin County and the North Quabbin area.
Donelan said another big challenge is finding places to live for people who have been incarcerated. He said they are in high risk of denial.
Kendrick said the Groundworks Collaborative looked at that and at the fact that some people are better housed within the community than incarcerated, especially if they are in recovery.
“We have to look at mental health needs, have conversations with property managers, discuss criteria for choosing tenants,” Kendrick said.
All agreed that as Franklin County and the North Quabbin region look at creating sober housing, the idea is not to create situations where people become dependent but rather to set people up for success so they can move on.
“COVID-19 has exacerbated the lack of sober housing in our region,” Donelan said. “Our Re-entry Team is doing heroic work to help place individuals, but many obstacles remain.”
Fellow Co-Chair John Merrigan, said, “Lack of housing repeatedly comes up in the courts as the primary barrier for individuals and parents to get their lives back on track, especially during this pandemic. We must continue to explore every avenue to get individuals in safe, stable and sober housing.”
Northwestern District Attorney and Opioid Task Force Co-Chair David Sullivan said as opioid-related overdoses continue to climb in this region, the task force wants to do everything it can to get individuals in stable and supportive housing environments as part of their recovery journey.
“It’s the core of our work,” he said.
Greenfield Housing Authority Executive Director Tom Guerino said when the task force and collaborators explore and move forward with sober housing, they should consider transportation, making sure the places they choose are at the very least on a bus line.
“As you think about this, you have to do it without judgment, you have to know what you’re signing up for, and you have to be open-minded, compassionate and have an open heart,” Bridgewater said.
Greenfield Community and Economic Development Director MJ Adams said Greenfield is working on several projects, including working with the recovery community through the lens of housing. Those efforts started with former Mayor William Martin and have continued with Mayor Roxann Wedegartner.
Adams said a house on Cedar Street houses eight women in recovery and another on High Street houses men. The city is constantly looking at other possibilities for housing. She said it is also working on opening up a daytime warming center this winter so that people who are struggling have a place to go during the day.
Heather Bialecki-Canning, executive director of the North Quabbin Community Coalition, said she’s been feeling hopeful for the first time in many months and is feeling more so after Friday’s Sober Housing Summit.
“People have to feel safe, and housing is so important, if they’re going to move forward,” she said. “The biggest barrier for most people who are struggling is housing. It always comes back to housing.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.