Once the members of the new house agree to utilize the Oxford House Model’s system of operations and Oxford House, Inc. issues a no-cost charter. The members of the new house agree to utilize the Oxford House Model’s system of operations and Oxford House, Inc. issues a no-cost charter. The house members will invite applicants to the house for an interview where they will ask questions and then decide as a group who they will vote into the house as a new member. Interviews are usually held in person, but can also be done over the phone.

• This brought members and alumni from all over the country together to enjoy fellowship and learn more about Oxford House.
• The Oxford House Model references the system of operations of a unique, time-tested model recognized by the Federal Government as an evidence-based practice shown to bring significant results currently unmatched in the recovery space.
• In Oxford House, each member equally shares the responsibility for the running of the House and upholding the Oxford House tradition.
• The Chapter is also the place where individuals expand their network of sober friends as Chapters host all kinds of social events that bring their community together.
• Our officers are but trusted servants serving continuous periods of no longer than six months in any one office.
• Oxford House, Inc. acts as the coordinating body for providing charters for the opening of new Oxford Houses.

Democratically self-run

Each Oxford House should be autonomous except in matters affecting other houses or Oxford House, Inc., as a whole. Find documents, templates, and everything residents need while living at an Oxford House. Before spreading the word, an individual Oxford House should make certain that it is sufficiently established to undertake public discussion of it goals and mission. The best sales pitch for spreading the word about Oxford House is simply the establishment of a sound Oxford House and a straightforward discussion of what it is, how it works and why it is needed. In deference to that tradition, Oxford House has never sought nor obtained sponsorship from any AA or NA group.

House Forms​

During the last days of our drinking or using drugs, most of us ceased to function as responsible individuals. We were not only dependent upon alcohol and/or drugs, but were also dependent on many others for continuing our alcoholic and/or drug addicted ways. When we stopped drinking or using drugs, we began to realize just how dependent we had become.

sober

There is no reason to believe that society as a whole had the responsibility to provide long-term housing within a protected environment for the alcoholic and drug addict. 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 heroin addiction recovering alcoholic or drug addict. In 1975, a tight budget in Montgomery County, Maryland led to a decision to close one of the four county-run halfway houses.

The application is then considered by the membership of the House and if 80% of the members approve, the applicant is accepted and moves in. If an applicant does not get voted into one house they should try another house in the area. An Oxford House member can stay as long as they like, provided they stay drug and alcohol free, are not disruptive, and pay their share of house expenses. Oxford House has as its primary goal the provision of housing and rehabilitative support for the alcoholic or drug addict who wants to stop drinking or using and stay stopped. The only members who will ever be asked to leave an Oxford House are those who return to drinking, using drugs, oxford house traditions or have disruptive behavior, including the nonpayment of rent. No Oxford House can tolerate the use of alcohol or drugs by one of its members because that threatens the sobriety of all of the members.

• Oxford House set out for national expansion by hiring the first outreach workers to start opening houses in other states.
• Once more applications are received than there are beds available, the members of any Oxford House will begin to look around for another suitable house.
• 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.
• Once accepted, an Oxford House member can stay as long as they like, provided they stay drug and alcohol free, are not disruptive, and pay their share of house expenses.

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. Oxford House set out for national expansion by hiring the first outreach workers to start opening houses in other states. With passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, expansion of Oxford Houses exploded. During the early 1990s dozens of communities sought to close Oxford Houses located in good neighborhoods because local zoning ordinances restricted the number of unrelated individuals that could live together in a single-family home. In 1975, Montgomery County, Maryland decided to close a traditional halfway house because of a lack of funds.

Some houses are all veterans but primarily veterans are integrated into the normal Oxford House population. Instead of being left to their own fates, Mr. Molloy and other residents decided to take over the house themselves, paying the expenses and utilities, cooking the meals and keeping watch over one another’s path to recovery. Paul Molloy was a young lawyer on Capitol Hill who had a key role in drafting legislation that created Amtrak and other federal programs. He was also an alcoholic whose drinking would eventually cost him his job, his family and his home. Each house adheres to the absolute requirement that any member who returns to using alcohol or drugs must be immediately expelled.