The Supportive Housing Cookbook is the work of a fellow who, with modest funding from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, researched ways to provide decent, affordable, self-sustaining housing for those in recovery.

The Cookbook shows how Investors can partner with agencies or non-profit organizations to buy or build a better-than-average house to create a small-scale real estate investment that can provide a home for recovering alcoholics or others. Create a symbiotic relationship; the investor wants people to live in the house and pay rent, the agency serves hundreds of people who need a temporary place to stay (say 3 to 15 months), and by creating a public-private partnership, the "Pie" gets bigger and everyone gets what they want - a lot of pie (or, in this case, housing for people with special needs).

And the houses? Good ones, well-located, with perhaps 5 bedrooms, 3 and 1/2 baths, double garage in a good residential neighborhood. Check out this cookbook -- it's intended to guide you and others into creating a bunch of opportunities -- for people in recovery, for agencies and non-profits, for investors and developers.

In the words of one critic: "This solution is elegant in its simplicity." - Jim Gottstein

This is a new area wide [Alaskan] calendar of sober events and activities from groups or individuals.

Page 152…”But am I to be consigned to a life where I shall be stupid, boring and glum”…..”Have you a sufficient substitute?”

Let’s get a fellowship going in this town like no other. What do you or your group like to do for fun? If every group were to sponsor one event a month with individuals filling in here and there, we would have all sorts of things going on here.

Page 132 “…But we aren’t a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn’t want it.”

Listen to recovery music in the baground as you surf this and other Internet sites. Interesting. Check it out. Just click on the microphone at the top center of the page.

Treatment centers find that their 'graduates' who move into Oxford Houses are MUCH more likely to recover from alcoholism and drug problems. Experience shows that people in the early stages of recovery will find that Oxford House provides a great solution for their housing needs...a bargain at twice the price!

We need more good Oxford Houses everywhere!

Here's a website addressing some of the problems confronting Alaska Natives and potential solutions for those problems.