Retired Eaton County Judge Harvey Hoffman is taking the initiative to begin a housing project for recovering opioid abusers, scheduled to start next year.

The $10.5 million project will be built in the Edison neighborhood of Kalamazoo where the Allied Paper Mill once stood. The project represents a collaboration between politicians, local non-profits and community mental health services, and state judicial services.

The 50 apartment-sized complexes in Kalamazoo will be part of a pilot project in which two more similar buildings will be created in different cities in Michigan.

The project is relatively progressive in comparison to other current drug-related laws, as the proposed site is within walking distance from the Family Health, Mental Health Substance Abuse Centers, and the Kalamazoo County DHHS—all of which will all play a huge role in the ease-of-access for the services that tenants would receive.

Kalamazoo residents within the Edison neighborhood have mixed feelings about the project. Some residents are excited about the project because it will provide services to those community members struggling in order to help them become functioning members of society; others are uncomfortable with the prospect of having the complex near their neighborhood.

Hoffman has worked with the Michigan Association of Treatment Court Professionals, and other drug-related organizations since the early 1990s. The judge implemented the first Misdemeanor and Felony DWI courts in Michigan, and has been involved in other innovate rehabilitation programs for Michigan.

The opioid crisis in Michigan is rising at an alarming rate, according to the Michigan Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Task Force. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data revealed that, in Michigan there was an 84.9 opioid prescription rate per 100 persons in 2017.

The influx of prescriptions is only one side of the problem. A big issue that recovering addicts face is not having stable housing, communities, or support-systems. Hoffman said currently it’s easy for addicts to, “go back out to their old neighborhoods and friends, and if you are an addict and all of your friends are using or everyone that your living with is using then it makes it very difficult for treatment to be successful.” These buildings would help with this problem because it would present these people with long-term solutions to resist returning to their old lifestyle

Short-term housing is currently available in Kalamazoo, but only for 90 days at a time, and is more expensive. The Kalamazoo City Planning Commission data states that residential short-term treatment programs usually cost between $88.33 to $167.00 per day, while long-term residential programs would only cost between $48 to $90 per day. Residents will have to be in good standings with the treatment courts in order to reside in the complex.

The project has experienced several barriers, the biggest one being a lack of communication between all of the organizations that are currently involved in the project. Hoffman said that, “Politics is about 90 percent human relations, everyone is in their own silos, everyone in every organization has their own language.” Hoffman also said that when something new is tried there are always problems that will unexpectedly happen.

Data will be taken on the effectiveness of these housing complexes for three years after residents move in. Once the project is finished, help may be needed from K students. Those interested should contact the CCE.