The Every Consort

The Oxford House program lets recovering addicts help themselves

One day last month, Angie McAdams was dumped by her longtime boyfriend.

The 47-year-old felt the urge to drink or snort cocaine to deal with the emotional pain.

But she had to think twice. She enjoyed living in the house near Lawrence Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard that she had called home for about a month.

And she didn’t want to be evicted on the spot, which is what happens to people in the structured environment of an Oxford House if they are found using or possessing the materials that made them addicts and led them there in the first place.

McAdams used to earn $100,000 a year as a finance director of auto dealerships in Springfield, Bloomington and the state of Virginia. But she spent most of her salary on booze and drugs. Now she is grateful for her minimum-wage job at Hardee’s.

McAdams mustered the strength to abstain that day, drawing support from her fellow housemates, all of whom were struggling day by day, sometimes hour by hour, to remain clean.

“This place teaches you how to deal with stuff like that,” she said in the dining room of the Oxford site known as Laton House at 705 S. English Ave. “This house kept me from doing something stupid.”

Virtually unknown to people outside the recovery community, Oxford Houses have proven to be remarkably successful at helping recovering alcoholics and addicts adjust to lives of sobriety and return to employment.

Despite some initial resistance from neighbors and local officials in Springfield in the late 1990s, Oxford Houses seem to be accepted here and have been associated with few problems, according to local officials, neighbors and neighborhood groups.

“It’s not as bad as what I thought they would be. I really expected worse,” said Cindy Cleaver, 51, president of the Near South Neighborhood Association. She lives across the street from an Oxford House on South Fourth Street and about a block from another on South Fifth Street.

“They’re definitely going out of their way to be friendly,” Cleaver said. Added Frank Michael Parrish, 52, who lives next door to an all-women Oxford House in the 400 block of Williams Street: “They’re a nice bunch of young ladies. I haven’t had any problem with them.”

Governed by the residents themselves — who must pay their own rent to private landlords and help repay the $5,000 state loans used to establish each Oxford House — the homes provide low-cost housing for adults having a difficult time landing good-paying jobs after years of being slaves to their addictions.

“At this point in my recovery, being alone is not a good thing,” said Lynn Jacoby, 37, a Springfield native and divorced mother of two who works at Rally’s Hamburgers, lives at Laton House with McAdams and serves as the house president. “This is basically my family.”

How it works

At any time, about 1,200 Oxford Houses are operating throughout the country, serving 10,000 people. Illinois has 54 such houses, serving 200 to 300 people.

The first Oxford House in Sangamon County opened in Southern View in 1991 and continues to operate. Springfield at one time had 10 Oxford Houses. Five remain.

Job losses in recent recessions

They serve a total of about 40 people, many of whom grew up in central Illinois. Oxford Houses also operate in Decatur and Bloomington-Normal.

Private landlords own the houses. They receive market-rate rent paid by the tenants, who interview for spots and agree to live based on the self-governing Oxford House model developed by recovering addicts in the mid-1970s in Maryland and featured in a 1991 segment of “60 Minutes.”

Each house receives a name and, eventually, a charter from the nonprofit Oxford House Inc. House residents meet weekly, and representatives from regional “chapters” meet monthly in each state to discuss plans and troubleshoot problems.

The average rent per person is $60 to $90 a week in the Springfield area, including utilities, and each resident buys his or her own food. Almost all of the residents have jobs. Those who don’t are required to volunteer in the community or do chores around the house to avoid idle time.

Most residents have taken part in some sort of inpatient treatment program before coming to an Oxford House, and many have drug-related convictions. Nationwide, 70 percent of Oxford House residents are men, and 55 percent are white.

Unlike a halfway house, there is no paid staff from a social …

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