Wasilla Oxford House to open

WASILLA -- Oxford House Inc. is opening a new transitional house in Wasilla early next week. The Lake Lucille home, which will house six men who must remain drug and alcohol free, provides a place where those transitioning from treatment centers can start new in the community.

"Treatment centers work, but when you get out, you have nowhere else to go," said Oxford House Alaska outreach worker Cliff Wilson. "That's where Oxford House steps in, we provide a place to live without all of the old triggers."

Alaska currently has six Oxford Houses, five in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks. A second Fairbanks home is scheduled to open up later this month. Oxford houses are self-supported and self-run; each resident must pay housing expenses and are expected to participate in establishing and regulating the rules of the house, which include remaining drug and alcohol free. The state of Alaska loans each Oxford House $4,000 to get started, which helps pay for the first month's rent and deposit. Oxford House then pays that loan back over a course of two years. A recent $10,000 grant by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority will help pay for furnishing the house and some of the operating costs of the Oxford House Alaska Chapter.

Wilson said some of the Wasilla Oxford House residents are coming out of the Nugen's Ranch long-term rehabilitation program, where residents go through the 12-step program in six months to two years.

"I see this as a good thing because now people coming out of treatment have a good place to transition in a clean and sober environment," said Karen Nugen-Logan, the executive director of Nugen's Ranch.

Oxford House was first established in Maryland in 1975. There are more than 800 homes in the United States; there are men's homes, women's home and homes for women with children. There are no coed houses.

There is a zero tolerance for drug and alcohol use at Oxford House, If found using, the person is checked into a treatment center and expelled from the home. Oxford Homes nationally have an 80 percent sober success rate, Alaska has a 70 percent success rate. Treatment centers nationally have around a 20 percent success rate. Most houses have eight to 15 members, and the usual length of stay for a resident is about a year.