Recovery Housing Works: Outcomes from Kate’s House Housing Model with Justice-Involved Communities

Kate’s House Foundation operates and owns seven accredited MAT homes serving justice-involved adults referred by the Drug Court and the Department of Corrections (DOC). The program emphasizes trauma-informed care, no rapid-exit policies, and prohibits resident “vote-outs.” Because all participants were justice-involved at entry, the realistic alternative to remaining in housing was the possibility of losing drug court benefits or returning to jail or prison for relapse or non-compliance. Within this high-risk context, the longer lengths of stay observed in this cohort represent extended periods in the community in lieu of incarceration, underscoring the preventive impact of a non-punitive, stabilization-first recovery housing model. We evaluated early exits, length of stay (LOS), completion/active status, employment change, and age patterns using assessments at ~0, 45, and 90 days (REC-CAP). 10, 12. Mean LOS was ~141 days (median ~97), and among residents engaged beyond 30 days the mean LOS was 181 days. Using LOS ≥60 days as a priori “engagement success,” retention was strongest among older adults, while residents <25 showed the weakest ≥60-day retention. 5, 6 REC-CAP Social Capital & Meaningful Activities scores skewed high (94% scoring 4–5 on a 5-point scale across 394 responses), indicating substantial perceived connection and purposeful activity during residence. Uniquely, this large single-system cohort spans seven houses run by one foundation under consistent policies, with data collected by two trained staff—reducing site-level variability common in multi-operator studies. In this cohort, Drug Court participants achieved retention patterns similar to DOC participants, supporting the role of non-punitive, MAT-compatible housing in maintaining community placement across justice-system categories.