Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Anchorage motel could house chronic alcoholics

The Anchorage division of RuralCap is negotiating to buy a Red Roof Inn at Fifth Avenue and Karluk Street. The agency is seeking a state grant through the Alaska Housing Finance Corp.

The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday the effort would follow a housing program in Seattle that does not require residents to stop drinking. Supporters said it could provide a safe home for chronic alcoholics while reducing the cost of services such as jail, detoxification and medical treatment.

“The concept is intriguing,” Mayor Dan Sullivan said. “You are getting people out of public parks and camps and into secure housing. That sounds like a positive step, but really the devil’s in the details.”

Fourteen homeless people died in Anchorage public parks, camps and on the city streets during 2009.

The mayor said the location of the motel wasn’t ideal, and he needed more information about staffing, financing and remodeling.

The building would be staffed around the clock, and employees would use video monitors to keep tabs on visitors as they come and go, said Melinda Freemon, director of RuralCap’s Anchorage division, including the Homeward Bound residential program.

There would be limits on visitors to prevent drug-dealing and to keep residents’ rooms from becoming party destinations, Freemon said.

Residents could stay as long as they followed the rules. They would pay fair-market rent for a single room, typically through public housing assistance or disability or other benefits.

“This is just like if any of us rented an apartment, with extra staffing to ensure the safety of tenants and the neighborhood,” Freemon said.

Anchorage Assembly member Dan Coffey, a member of the mayor’s homelessness team, is drafting an ordinance for a special permit for such housing.

For hard-core street alcoholics, “what we’re doing now is a total waste of time, money, energy, everything,” Coffey said. “Take them to the drunk tank, sober ’em up, let them drink again. Boom boom. Around and around and around we go.”

source: Associated Press

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Facts about narcotics anonymous

Narcotic anonymous is a “non profit fellowship”. This organization can be said to be a society of all the men and women who are or were addicted to drugs. These people meet regularly and carry out different programs to help the addicted recover from their addiction. The only criteria for earning the membership of this….

Underage drinking costs Nebraska $447 million

In these tough economic times, most people are watching where they spend their money, and it’s likely they wouldn’t be pleased to know that nearly $252 goes missing annually without them realizing it. That money goes to cover the costs associated with the hospitalization, law enforcement work and even funerals of minors who consume alcohol…..

Alcohol Check-In Sees Record Crowd

Drawn by the promise of free water bottles, more than 1,330 students flocked to the Malkin Athletic Center last Friday for National Alcohol Screening Day, marking a record level of participation that rose by almost 40 percent from last year. The annual event, which takes place at hospitals, community centers, and universities around the country,….

Chronic Drinking Causes More Liver Damage Than Binge Drinking

A new study conducted on rodents has shown the extreme harm caused by chronic drinking on the liver, much more than the injury caused by binge drinking. Although alcohol consumption is known to cause liver damage, still the degree of liver damage can differ according to the pattern of drinking “Different patterns of drinking can]….

Minneapolis lawmaker wants to legalize teen drinking in some situations

The hazards of binge drinking have been well documented, both for those of legal drinking age and those under 21. The problem, as State Representative Phyllis Kahn sees it, is that young people never learn first-hand how to drink responsibly. The veteran Minneapolis Democrat’s solution would be to legalize teen drinking in certain circumstances, in….