McHenry County struggles to meet demand for sober living home

About one year after a controversial sober living home opened its doors at 131 Ellsworth St., Crystal Lake, the residents who come in and out of the home are some of 31-year-old Madyson Ostrowski's best neighbors, she said.

Ostrowski, a mental health therapist at Rosecrance, has lived across the street from New Directions Addiction Recovery Service’s sober living house since it opened in March 2018. Despite her neighbors’ initial concerns about living next door to a group of recovering addicts, their presence goes mostly unnoticed, she said.

“They’re some of our best neighbors,” Ostrowski said. “They clean and take care of things. Most of the concerns that I’ve heard are completely unrealistic.”

As overdose deaths in McHenry County begin to decline, wait lists for empty beds at local recovery homes and treatment facilities continue to grow.

Some addiction recovery workers and McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally agree that the area’s addicted population is in need of more residential housing and detox services, although the state’s attorney hasn’t officially proposed anything yet. He’s generally called for more residential treatment spaces, particularly for underinsured residents.

However, David Gomel, president of Rosecrance Inc., said he hasn’t seen enough demand to justify building another detox center.

New Directions president Chris Reed said a challenge can be that people are hesitant to allow a treatment facility or sober living home to set up shop in their neighborhood.

“The community has to be willing to help these people reintegrate socially, spiritually [and] through employment,” Reed said.

Reed has established three sober living homes with a total 24 sober living beds in Crystal Lake. Each time he faced opposition.

“There’s a lot of different things that create fear for people that are driven out of the stigma of addiction,” Reed said.

When New Directions announced plans early last year to open its third sober living home in an unincorporated area near Crystal Lake, more than
50 people showed up to Nunda Township's meeting to express shock, frustration and disappointment.

"Every time that we have tried to create a new environment or add more housing beds, it's been met with a strong resistance in the community and the 'not in my backyard' attitude often comes up when it comes to anything related to housing," Reed said at a
Feb. 25 State of Addiction in McHenry County meeting.

Treatment options

Sober living homes, like the ones New Directions operates, are intended for people who have already completed some kind of a treatment program and are in the process of transitioning back into everyday life. Sober living homes don’t require licensing in Illinois.

Alternatively, McHenry County residents who need more “intensive” in-patient treatment earlier in their recovery are typically sent to facilities outside of McHenry County, Gomel said. Those types of treatment centers, including facilities that offer detox services such as what Kenneally has suggested, are regulated by the state and are staffed with trained professionals who can offer medical and therapeutic services, Gomel said.

Gomel said Rosecrance’s wait list isn’t long enough to warrant opening a new facility in McHenry County. It already offers intensive outpatient treatment in the area, and is has kept up with the demand for out-of-county referrals, he said.

“Our demand is consistent but not sufficient that we would open a new home or more beds,” Gomel said. “The pace hits the supply.”

The wait lists

New Directions, Rosecrance, Last Chance House and Wish House each operates existing recovery and sober living homes throughout Crystal Lake and Woodstock.

Between all seven houses, there are roughly 65 sober living beds available in McHenry County, Reed said during his February presentation.

As of Tuesday, there were 77 people on a wait list to enter one of New Directions’ homes, he said. About 45 percent of those people are McHenry County residents.

The wait for a bed at a sober living home typically lasts about two months. For people recovering from addiction, however, the need to start fresh in a structured environment is immediate, New Directions Sober Living Director Chris Larson said.

“I am confident we could open three more houses and fill them quickly,” he said. “Our wait list and the people trying to get in always vastly outpaces our availability, it could be weeks or months before we have an open bed somewhere.”

A Skokie company called Dunham Property Holdings tried last year to convert a $5.2 million Hartland Township home into a substance abuse rehabilitation facility in Woodstock, but township officials and residents were worried the center would disrupt the quiet community. Dunham property holdings withdrew their petition in May, McHenry County Director of Planning and Development Dennis Sandquist said.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the company, which still owns the property, withdrew the petition, Sandquist said.

The ‘not in my back yard’ mentality

Concerns about the introduction of both sober living homes and rehabilitation centers tend to be rooted in a fear for security, Reed said.

Because it’s a crime to do drugs, the assumption stands that recovery housing would attract neighbors who are criminals, he said, adding that residents are fearful of anything from being robbed to seeing their neighborhood’s property value drop.

“It’s been our experience that once the neighborhood or people in the community have had their own experience and not the conceived fears, they come to the conclusion that it’s not that big of a deal,” Reed said.

Staying in a sober living homes generally comes with requirements. Residents at New Directions’ houses must remain sober the entire duration of their stay, complete daily chores, attend 12-step program meetings and follow a curfew, among other rules.

Ostrowski, whose Crystal Lake home neighbors new Directions’ Ellsworth Street house, doesn’t have any complaints so far.

“I think part of their recovery is living in a normal environment where they’re not secluded and getting to experience a regular neighborhood and a downtown area,” Ostrowski said. “When you’re stripped of those, it would be harder to be in recovery.”