Blair Drug and Alcohol Partnerships has received $22,500 from the state to help pay for recovery housing for young adults.

The supplemental funding from the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs will pay the housing portion of costs for recovery house residents between ages 18 and 24, according to BDAP Executive Director Judy Rosser.

The money helps the Blair partnership fill a gap left by the closeout of funding last year from the 2021 American Rescue Plan, according to Rosser.

To get the help, it will be mandatory for the clients to be involved with the partnership’s intensive care management services at the recovery houses, Rosser said.

“Those (services) wrap around other needs like mental health, physical health and employment services” to increase the chance that clients will “stabilize” and succeed in recovery, according to Rosser.

In addition, the services of a partnership certified recovery specialist is available to those who want it, she said.

Those recovery specialists work on wellness plans that are especially helpful to clients who are early in their recoveries, she said.

The Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs money will only go for housing in facilities licensed and inspected by the state, Rosser said.

There are five such facilities in Blair: three for males and two for females.

Two of the houses for males are operated by Nate Germany, pastor of 18th Street Community Church, and one is operated by Pyramid Healthcare, Rosser said.

One of the houses for females is operated by Germany.

The funding for the partnership comes from a total of $1.2 million in allocations for nine “single county authorities” that provide substance use disorder help throughout the state, as the partnership does for Blair.

The state funding initiative is expected to serve 240 clients in 14 counties, according to a Shapiro administration news release.

There are 430 state-licensed recovery houses in Pennsylvania, according to the news release.

“Recovery houses are safe, family-like living environments that are substance free and structured to support individuals who are in recovery from the disease of addiction,” the news release states. “They center on peer support and connection to services that promote long-term recovery.”

Support services provided to clients of recovery houses help those clients gain “the skills and resources needed to initiate, maintain and sustain long-term recovery (and) may include care coordination, recovery coaching, spiritual counseling, group support, job training, transportation and assistance with accessing recovery housing,” the news release states.

The young adults targeted by the funding “face unique barriers to sustained recovery, including fewer connections to recovery supports and unstable housing,” Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones said in the news release.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.