What is an Oxford House? Oxford House Recovery Homes

In 1975, a tight budget in Montgomery County, Maryland led to a decision to close one of the four county-run halfway houses. The thirteen men living in the halfway house rented the building and decided to run it themselves. They immediately decided to change the rule that limited a stay to six months because they had witnessed that when a person was required to leave because the time was up they almost always relapsed within thirty days of leaving. That was an important change because recovering individuals oxford house sober living take different lengths of time to become comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapse. By the time many of us had stopped drinking, we had lost jobs; we had lost families, and some of us either had no place to live or no place to live which was not an invitation to start drinking again. Oxford House was founded not only to put a roof over our head, but also to create a home where the disease of alcoholism was understood and the need for the alcoholic to stay away from the first drink was emphasized.

Oxford House and The Rule of Law

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.

• When they find such a house they will bring it up with the other existing Houses and if there is a consensus they will attempt to find the start up money and members to fill the new house.
• For many individuals who complete drug and alcohol treatment, returning home is the beginning of their relapse.
• It is not easy to spread the word of a new concept or an old concept with a new twist.
• Individuals come and go but officers will always be duly authorized to act for the group.
• Within an Oxford House group, it is not unusual to find some members who have problems which cannot be dealt with by the group.
• Oxford Houses are considered single family residences for purposes of zoning.

Q. How many times has the average Oxford House resident been through residential treatment?

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. Oxford House, Inc., plays an important part in making certain that individual groups behave responsibly through the use of the “Charter” mechanism.

Q. How much sobriety or clean time is needed before an individual can be accepted into an Oxford House?

• Each Oxford House member, as an individual, considers himself a member of AA and/or NA.
• He or she is dealing with an established organization that, of necessity, takes pride in preservation of its good name and reputation.
• In 1975, Oxford House leases were pathfinders in the landlord-tenant arena.
• 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.

Nearly all members of Oxford House utilize the AA and/or NA program in order to obtain and keep a comfortable sobriety. However, an Oxford House relies primarily upon example for assuring a high percentage of AA and/or NA attendance from its members. 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.

• 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.
• A major part of the Oxford House philosophy is that dependency is best overcome through an acceptance of responsibility.
• Be honest and straight-forward when sharing the Oxford House concept with others.
• Such meetings should be used to resolve any operational or personality problems facing the house.
• When we stopped drinking, we began to realize that in order to stay stopped, our lives would need to change.
• 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.

At any given time there are about 2,000 Oxford House residents who have served in the military. During the course of a year more than 4,000 veterans will live in an Oxford House. Some houses are all veterans but primarily veterans are integrated into the normal Oxford House population. 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 third factor affecting us both in the rehabilitation facilities and the half-way houses was the realization that the duration of our stay must be limited because space must be made for others in need of help. Oxford House, Inc., monitors the activities of each house in a number of ways. It has on-site support by dedicated members of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Individuals active in those programs have the Oxford House toll-free telephone number and call Oxford House headquarters if a particular house is not strictly carrying out its responsibilities under its charter. Getting sober and staying sober is serious business for these recovering individuals and their dedication to helping others achieve sobriety is unsurpassed. Who is ResponsibleThe particular group house is responsible to the landlord.

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.

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. Oxford House is built on the premise of expanding in order to meet the needs of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. This principle contrasts sharply with the principle of providing the alcoholic or drug addict with assistance for a limited time period in order to make room for a more recently recovering alcoholic or drug addict.

Q. What is the “ideal” number of individuals to assure a well-run self-run, self-supported recovery house?

Oxford Houses are considered single family residences for purposes of zoning. This has always been true in practice and since March 12, 1989, the effective date of the 1988 Amendments to the Federal Fair Housing Act, it has been a matter of law. Those amendments make it unlawful for any jurisdiction to discriminate against congregate living for the disabled. Recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are within the scope of the term “disabled”. Therefore, Oxford Houses are not subject to zoning laws regulating the number of unrelated individuals who may live in a single family dwelling.