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

Students learn firsthand effects of alcohol

Sometimes, field sobriety and breathalyzer tests given to someone under the influence of alcohol don’t lead to jail. Sometimes, they lead to gaining knowledge. That was the case on Oct. 2, when a group of young people gathered at a friend’s house to learn about the effects of alcohol firsthand. Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Greg….

Adults no help to teenage drinkers

What would you do? A 16-year-old comes up to you and asks for a little help. He and his friends are bored and just want to have a little fun that night. He asks you to buy booze. Got a problem with that? The Pittsfield Prevention Partnership says you should, but not everyone does. And….

Alcohol on TV 'prompts drinking'

People are more likely to turn to alcohol while watching TV if they see drinking being portrayed in films or adverts, a study shows. The research, led by a team from Radboud University in the Netherlands, monitored the behaviour of 80 young people while they watched television. Researchers found those who saw lots of alcohol….

Liver cancer cases triple and booze is to blame

Cases of liver cancer have more than tripled in the past 30 years because of binge boozing. Startling figures from Cancer Research UK show the number of patients rocketed from 865 in 1975 to 3,108 in 2006. Experts say the rise in hard drinking is to blame as well as obesity and the blood infection….

Women binge drinking ‘unattractive’ to men

Women who drink the same amount as men may not be found as attractive as they think, a recent psychology study says. A March 9 report by the American Psychology Association said an increasing amount of women think they should drink excessively to impress men. Surveys conducted showed 71 percent of college women think men….