Good news for sober living home operators in Ohio: the state has set aside an unprecedented amount of funding for recovery and sober living!
We’ve spoken before on this blog about state-specific funding streams that became available in Florida, Texas and California during the pandemic, but today we’ll just talk about the funding opportunities specific to Arizona and Ohio.
Before we begin, a note for those who are just getting started: If you’re still in the research phase for your sober living home business and you’re interested in opening a sober living home in Ohio, be sure to check out our blog post for that, as well.
Ohio: A Great State to Open a Sober Living Home That Just Got Better
Ohio has always been a great state for the recovery community. The 12 Step Program common to so many addiction treatment spaces was founded here, it has always had a larger demand for recovery housing than it does homes to satisfy that demand, and the pandemic has caused a spike in demand for addiction treatment and recovery supports like never before. Ohio also has a highly comprehensive arsenal of resources available online to individuals and organizations who are interested in getting started with sober living home operation and management. In this regard, Ohio may be the best of all states in the nation.
Before all for sober living home operators who are not a fan of red tape? Ohio does not require sober living homes to seek licensure with the state before beginning to provide housing to those in need.
In 2020, Senate Bill 310 Awards $47,709,000 to “General Community Capital Needs,” Including Sober Living Homes in Ohio
At the end of 2020, Governor DeWine of Ohio signed Senate Bill 310, which granted an unprecedented amount of funding for mental and behavioral health in the state. The money can be used for all pieces of a robust behavioral health system, including: group homes, peer resource centers, treatment centers and sober living homes. This money doesn’t even include an additional pool of funds set aside specifically to support behavioral health programming for children under the age of 18 in Ohio.
Community Capital Project Funding for Sober Living Homes in Ohio Has a Project Maximum of $750,000
Unlike previous rounds of funding that the state of Ohio has granted the recovery community (which we cover below), this round of funding has a project maximum of $750,000. No more than 50% of the project can be funded using state money, so if your project total exceeds $1,500,000, you’ll still only qualify for a total of $750,000.
In 2019, Ohio Gave Away $22.5 Million Dollars to Sober Living Home Operators
Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services (or OhioMAS, for short) is responsible for distributing state funding to sober living homes who partner with local county Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Boards (ADAMH) in the state. In recent years, the agency has been aggressively pursuing lawmakers and persuading them to provide more adequate funding for the state’s behavioral health crisis. In 2019, they were rewarded with a watershed $22.5 million dollars to pass onto sober living home operators in the state. Compared with previous years, such as 2018 - which saw a paltry $1 million set aside for the same purpose - 2022 was a good year for sober living operators.
Why Did So Much Funding for Sober Living Home Operators Make it Into the 2019 Ohio State Budget?
Wondering what accounts for the large increase in money available to sober living home operators in Ohio? Look no further than House Bill 49, which went into effect on June 29th, 2017. In 2019, over 121 recovery housing operators received funding from the state in Ohio, ultimately funding over 242 sober living home beds. Recovery housing projects were only eligible for 75% of total project costs to be covered, the operators themselves had to come up with the final 25%. Funds were also capped at $500,000, so if 75% of your project exceeds that amount, you would still only receive a max of $500,000.
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