Fred Way, executive director of the Pennsylvania Alliance of Recovery Houses (PARR), spoke to Solutions Journalism: Covering Addiction today about recovery housing in Pennsylvania. Way also serves as the treasurer of the National Alliance of Recovery Residences (NARR). Click here to download Way’s presentation and here for the consumer guide to recovery housing he distributed.

Fred Way: “It’s difficult out here getting to recovery”

by Taylor Allen 

There are roughly about 70 recovery houses in Philadelphia.

According to Executive Director of Pennsylvania Alliance of Recovery Residences Fred Way, only about 20 of those 70 are certified.

A certified recovery house means that clients are guaranteed quality service.

Many recovery houses are not certified. In fact, a lot of recovery houses are substandard, according to Way.

In order to be certified, a house must abide by property zoning, have a business privilege license, zoned as multi-family, have a certificate of occupancy, a personal care home license, among other things.

Another primary issue is that there is not enough resources for people struggling with addiction. Philadelphia is the heroin capital of the world and there is barely any quality houses. In addition, many people cannot afford to stay in a house. Many of these recovery homes are about 170 dollars a week.

The two main issues when it comes to recovery homes is to find quality and accessibility.