Each member pays EES (Equal Expense Share) which includes the total amount of rent due for the month, utilities and basic staples for the house. The average stay is about a year, but many members stay three, four, or more years. The concept and the standardized, democratic, self-supported Oxford House system of operations itself are far more persuasive than any individual. Be honest and straightforward when sharing the Oxford House concept with others. Oxford House should remain forever non-professional, although individual members may be encouraged to utilize outside professionals whenever such utilization is likely to enhance recovery from alcoholism.
- When we stopped drinking or using drugs, we began to realize just how dependent we had become.
- Some are able to keep from drinking in spite of the loneliness with which they were faced.
- One of the greatest threats to the sobriety of a recovering alcoholic or drug addict is loneliness.
- Yes, because alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness are handicapping conditions.
Q. Are there Oxford Houses set up for special populations?
If an applicant does not get voted into one house they should try another house in the area. Once accepted, an Oxford House member can stay as long as they like, provided they stay drug and alcohol free, are not disruptive, and pay their share of house expenses. Oxford House has as its primary goal the provision of housing and rehabilitative support for the alcoholic or drug addict who wants to stop drinking or using and stay stopped. The only members who will ever be asked to leave an Oxford House are those who return to drinking, using drugs, or have disruptive behavior, including the nonpayment of rent.
- It also acts as the coordinating body to help individual houses to organize mutually supportive chapters.
- (Since 1989, many new Oxford Houses have taken advantage of state revolving loan programs.
- The Oxford House Model provides community based, supportive, and sober living environment.
- It doesn’t matter if they’ve been living in the house for one day or for multiple years.
Our Houses
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. It is no more difficult than for an ordinary family to find a house to rent. Each Oxford House is an ordinary single-family house with two bathrooms and four or more bedrooms. Ideally several of the bedrooms are large enough for two twin beds so that newcomers, in particular, are able to have a roommate. This discourages isolation and helps the newcomer to learn or relearn socialization to get the full benefit of recovering individuals helping each other to become comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapse.
Q. What is the “ideal” number of individuals to assure a well-run self-run, self-supported recovery house?
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. 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. Some of us had lived for a time in alcoholic and drug rehabilitation facilities. Those facilities provided us with shelter, food, and therapy for understanding alcoholism.
Q. What is needed to expand the number of Oxford Houses?
Some houses collect EES from its members on a monthly basis while many houses choose to collect EES on a weekly basis. This monthly or weekly amount varies from state to state and house to house and can range oxford sober living anywhere from $125 a week to $250 a week. When you call a house to set up an interview you can ask them how much their EES is.
- Such meetings should be used to resolve any operational or personality problems facing the house.
- If an Oxford House follows the democratic principles and traditions of Oxford House, Inc., it should have no difficulty in running smoothly.
- Loneliness and self-pity soon lead such individuals back to alcoholic drinking or drug use.
- If you are not selected, you should try another house that has an opening.
- Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous provided a framework for us to change physically, mentally, and spiritually.
- Paul Molloy was a young lawyer on Capitol Hill who had a key role in drafting legislation that created Amtrak and other federal programs.
Q. Don’t zoning laws limit where a group of unrelated individuals can rent a house?
Some are able to keep from drinking in spite of the loneliness with which they were faced. The alcoholic or drug addict alone begins to compare himself to those members of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous who still have family and friends. Loneliness and self-pity soon lead such individuals back to alcoholic drinking or drug use. With Oxford House there is no need for a recovering individual to live in an environment dominated by loneliness.
The Oxford House Model istime-tested and evidence-based.
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 heroin addiction and to accept decisions once they are made. Please fill out the form below to let us send you the latest information about Oxford House. Your stay in Oxford House helped make it what it is today and by keeping in touch with the Oxford House family you will make the organization better. During 2010, approximately 24,000 individuals lived in an Oxford House for some or part of the year.
World Council
By 1988, the number of individual Oxford Houses had become so great that it became difficult to have a meeting at which everyone would get a chance to speak. Some longed for the “old days” when there were fewer houses and the combined group of houses were smaller. Others recognized that the success of Oxford House made it clear that there would be more and more houses and there was no turning back the clock. The primary purpose of each Chapter is to assure that each oxford House operates in a way that is consistent with the Oxford House Traditions and system of operations as described in the Oxford House Manual. Chapters have become the front-line building blocks of quality control and mutual assistance for the continued success of all Oxford Houses. Experience has shown that both the individual houses and Oxford House, Inc. as a whole are more likely to succeed and last if every house belongs to a chapter.